Billy Horschel, British Open runner-up to Xander Schauffele, keeps a commitment to play 3M Open

Despite all the emotion and travel after his second-place finish Sunday at the British Open, Billy Horschel promised he’d honor his commitment to play this week’s 3M Open in Blaine.

Not only that, but he was, by most accounts, the first man on the driving range a little after 7 on Tuesday morning, whether that’s just his nature or his body clock still on Royal Troon time.

“I’ve always been an early riser,” Horschel said. “I think there may have been one guy before me, and that was Henrik Norlander — and he’s really early every morning,”

Horschel noted the worldwide tech outage that disrupted thousands of flights delayed some golfers coming from the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., on Sunday evening.

“It made it look like I was only guy out there first thing in the morning,” he said.

A former FedEx Cup winner, Horschel tied for 13th last year in his 3M Open debut. He said he never considered withdrawing from the tournament despite the emotions and fatigue remaining from such a week at a major.

Former U.S. Open winner Justin Rose withdrew Monday after he had entered three weeks ago. Rose also finished tied for second last week with Horschel, two shots behind Xander Schauffele, the new Champion Golfer of the Year. He was replaced by MJ Daffue.

Horschel birdied his first hole and his last three holes in the final round at Royal Troon but couldn’t catch Schauffele.

He flew back from Scotland on Monday and was at TPC Twin Cities first thing Tuesday.

Horschel tees off Thursday’s first round at 12:43 p.m. alongside Sam Burns and J.T. Poston.

“When I commit to something, I try to hold to that commitment unless crazy circumstances arise,” Horschel said. “When you’re playing well, you want to continue to play well. Yes, I’m coming halfway around the world, six different time zones, different grasses and everything. I want to continue to build on my confidence. I want to continue to put my back in that chance of winning.”

Horschel said he had heard “so many great things” about the TPC Twin Cities course before playing the event last year for the first time.

“But I’ve heard it’s a better family atmosphere,” he said, praising executive tournament director Hollis Cavner and assistant executive director Tracy West. “We experienced that last year, my wife and kids. Their team that runs the event did an unbelievable job. We’re having dinner every night outside on the back patio. It’s just a really enjoyable week, especially coming off a major.”

Now 37, Horschel played in the 2006 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine and shot a record 60 at nearby Chaska Town Course during medal play. He turned pro in 2009 and in 2013 earned his first of eight PGA Tour victories. He won the 2022 Memorial Tournament and just a year later shot an 82 there, a round he discussed with painful honesty afterward.

Horschel’s T-2 finish Sunday was his best at a major. It beat his T-8 at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Ky., and his T-4 at the 2013 U.S. Open. He won $10 million by taking the 2014 FedEx Cup.

In a week, Horschel moved from No. 62 to No. 33 in the Official World Golf Rankings and leapt to 26th on the FedEx Cup standings with the regular-season finale Wyndham Championship still remaining before the playoffs. Horschel called it a “massive move.”

“Billy’s playing incredible golf,” said world 19th-ranked player Tony Finau, the 3M Open champion in 2022. “He had a great chance to win the Open Championship. It was fun to watch. It was a tough test. For someone who works so hard at his game like Billy, the results will always follow. Now we’re looking at him maybe playing the best golf of his career, and we could be seeing the best of Billy these next couple months.”

Finau also called Horschel “an awesome dude for the Tour.”

Horschel has aimed these last two tournaments at the FedEx playoffs and a top-30 finish that gets him into the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

He is doing so as an improved player in major championships since he turned his head around starting with the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where he started strong but didn’t finish well.

“I just didn’t handle that situation very well, but since then the feeling, the mentality I have are in a better spot,” Horschel said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit longer to see the results. It’s nice to finally see those results, to finally get the validation from all the hard work we’ve been putting in.”