Austin may be Longhorn territory, but there’ll be plenty of Gator chompin’ in Texas tonight as Florida alum Billy Horschel celebrates his first World Golf Championships victory at the Dell Technologies Match Play. Horschel bested hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler 2&1 in the championship match, with Matt Kuchar and Victor Perez rounding out the top three and four spots, respectively.
Horschel was near perfect this week, falling only once in group play to J.T. Poston, though his path to victory was anything but easy. After it took a playoff win over Max Homa in the group stage to advance to the Round of 16, Horschel went 19 holes with Ryder Cup Europe star Tommy Fleetwood in the quarterfinals, taking the lead only on the final hole to seal the match.
This was Horschel’s third appearance in Austin, with his previous best finish coming at T24 at the 2019 event. Horschel’s game has been slowly trending upward throughout the 2020 - 2021 season, with four top-10 finishes, most recently capped with a T2 finish at the WGC – Workday Championship at The Concession one month ago.
With the win, Horschel moves from 18 to 11 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings as he looks to impress Captain Steve Stricker in hopes of securing his first Ryder Cup appearance.
Speaking of capturing the captain’s eye, Captain Stricker took notice of Scheffler’s impressive Match Play debut, after the Texas alum racked up wins against Kuchar, match-play maestro Ian Poulter and world No. 3 Jon Rahm, a group that accounts for a combined 10 Ryder Cup appearances.
Oh, I was watching 👀 https://t.co/5ShnmCQ9JT
— Steve Stricker (@stevestricker) March 28, 2021
With his runner-up finish, Scheffler moves up eight spots in this week’s ranking, from 22 to 14. Kuchar also saw his stock rise, moving from 29 to 23.
| Rank | Name (Previous Rank) |
| 1 | Dustin Johnson (1) |
| 2 | Bryson DeChambeau (2) |
| 3 | Justin Thomas (3) |
| 4 | Brooks Koepka (4) |
| 5 | Collin Morikawa (5) |
| 6 | Xander Schauffele (6) |
| 7 | Patrick Reed (7) |
| 8 | Tony Finau (8) |
| 9 | Daniel Berger (9) |
| 10 | Webb Simpson (10) |
| 11 | Billy Horschel (18) |
| 12 | Patrick Cantlay (11) |
For a full list of the Top 100 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, click here. The points system for this year's American team will include the top six point earners securing spots and the remaining six will be selected by Captain Stricker following the 2021 TOUR Championship.
