2014 TOUR Championship results: Billy Horschel wins the FedEx Cup at East Lake

Billy Horschel won’t be on the American Ryder Cup team in two weeks, which is unfortunate because he’s the hottest golfer on the planet right now. What was largely an underwhelming and middling season for Horschel finished as the best of his career, thanks to a remarkable run through the postseason to win the FedEx Cup.

Horschel is a streaky player — we knew this already and saw it last year when he had a run of top 10s before getting his first career victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He started this postseason at No. 69 in the FedEx Cup standings, so a spot beyond the first two playoff legs was not a given. But he started this streak in Boston, finishing with a top five at the Deutsche Bank Championship to position himself for a trip all the way to Atlanta. The result could have been better than a T2 in Boston for Horschel, who stood in the 18th fairway down a shot with a better than good chance to make a birdie and force a playoff with Chris Kirk. There was even a slight chance at eagle to win it outright if he hit a good shot, but what followed was his worst swing of the year — a ghastly chunk that came some 60 yards short of the green and landed in the front half of a hazard.

It was about as bad a shot as you can see from the middle of the fairway on the last hole of a PGA Tour event.

But Horschel was undeterred, saying it was his worst swing of the week but not a “choke” because he wasn’t sitting on the lead. There were no after effects from that ignominious end, as Horschel cruised to his second career win the very next week at the BMW Champinship. At Cherry Hills, there were a few big names that pushed him on Sunday, such as Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia. But he didn’t have to post a low number down the stretch and make some birdies, instead riding his third round 63 and then holding on with pars over the final 18.

That win last week in Denver guaranteed his spot in the top 5 of the FedEx Cup standings for this week’s TOUR Championship. That’s important because only those top five hold the “control your own destiny” card where a win at the playoffs finale means an automatic FedEx Cup title. And Horschel took immediate advantage of his position, playing in the final pairing all four days at East Lake. He was pushed by some of the best players in the world, and other top five guys like Chris Kirk, Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy, his playing partner over the final two rounds. The Florida Gator did not relent, holding off the No. 1 player in the world and the summer’s hottest golfer during the hottest streak of his career.

Sunday’s round was a tidy 2-under 68. McIlroy fell off the pace and the year’s most consistent player, Rickie Fowler, was out of it early. Instead, Jim Furyk emerged as the top challenger, forcing Horschel to hit his spots all the way through the back nine. A birdie putt at the 15th broke a tie with Furyk, and then a bombed-in clutch par save seemed to lock it up on the 16th green.

NBC’s Roger Maltbie said he had the sense that a “star is born,” and there’s no arguing Horschel is one of the best young American players in the world. He’ll probably continue these streaky bursts for the next decade or so to be one of McIlroy’s contemporary challengers at the game’s biggest events.

But even if he’s never heard from again, he’s now got enough money to live many happy lives. In addition to pocketing the $10 million grand prize, he won $3,477,333 between the two victories and the runner-up in Boston. So that’s almost $13.5 million in three weeks.

His career earnings prior to Sunday were $7,895,691. Given the incredible run, the Gator alum just had to do the chomp in front of the largely UGA crowd at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club. He was loudly booed, although nothing like the Liverpool fans giving it to Rory after he said he was a Man United fan at The Open.

It was a strong month for McIlroy, Furyk, Kirk, and Fowler, but no one came close to Horschel’s sustained form. He ends the season with 12 straight rounds in the 60s, an absurd mark we may not see for awhile in the Tour’s playoffs. Here are your final FedEx Cup standings the final results from the TOUR Championship: