The PGA Tour has not visited New York or Illinois this season, and former FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel believes the two regions are essential markets
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Image: Getty)
PGA Tour favourite Billy Horschel has called on commissioner Jay Monahan to bring back New York and Chicago to the golfing calendar in order to “get more people involved in the game of golf”.
New York and Chicago boast some legendary greens, including Shinnecock Hills, Winged Foot, and Medinah, yet they’ve been overlooked for this season’s tour stops. They’re also set to miss out in 2025, with Bethpage Black slated for the Ryder Cup instead.
Horschel, a former FedEx Cup winner, reckons New York and Chicago are crucial for the PGA Tour and wants them featured again pronto. Despite much of the tour taking place in sunnier states like Florida, California, and the Carolinas due to agreeable weather and sponsorship preferences, Horschel expressed his dismay at missing out on games in the big cities up north.
“Listen, we’re in Denver, which is a pretty big city. There are some really great golf courses in Chicago. There are some great golf courses in the northeast, New York, Boston area, the Philadelphia area. It is a little bit disappointing that we’re not there,” shared Horschel. “But it’s not like the tour is not trying to be there. Obviously, we go where the sponsors are and the sponsors can dictate a little bit where they want to hold their event.
“But I think going forward when we look at a revamped schedule and getting around the country, I do think we need to go back to Chicago and New York because I think those are really great golf towns. They’re really great sports towns, and that’s what really matters.
“I think for us, growing the game I don’t like using the term ‘growing the game’ but bringing it to the fans and people who aren’t necessarily in golf yet, going to towns that are just massive sports fans and fanatics, I think we need to go to those cities because that’s how we can get more people involved in the game of golf.”
Billy Horschel has praised the FedEx Cup Playoffs structure, despite world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s criticism. Scheffler has called the playoffs “silly” and not reflective of a season-long race due to their unpredictability. Scheffler, who has been the tour’s top player entering the playoffs for two consecutive years, was overtaken by Rory McIlroy in 2022 and Viktor Hovland the previous year at the Tour Championship.
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Horschel disagrees with Scheffler’s view, saying: “I disagree with Scottie. Scottie said it’s silly. I don’t agree with that,” and believes the current system doesn’t always reward the season’s best player.
Reflecting on his own experience, Horschel added: “I won the 2014 FedExCup. Rory McIlroy was clearly the best player that year. He had won two majors. He came in on a high note. I was 69th at the start of the FedEx. I missed the first cut. I go second, win, win, and I win the FedExCup. It’s no different than the New York Giants and beating the New England Patriots and starting the playoffs 9-7 and the Patriots being undefeated and then winning the Super Bowl.”
“I think if you asked two other guys there’s two different opinions you’re going to get on the FedExCup and what they think is the best way, but I believe that our system and the way we do it, could we reward the regular season a little bit more? Sure, we can. But this is a playoff. Anything can happen.”
