Notebook: Billy Horschel hopes short-game work will pay off

 

Billy Horschel wanted to be the first player to win the FedExCup in consecutive years. Not only did he fail to make it to the Tour Championship, he didn't make it back to Kapalua for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

 

Horschel is known as a streaky player. He had a big run in the spring of 2013 when he won in New Orleans, and then had only four top 10s in his next 39 events. He had a great run in September 2014 when he won the BMW Championship and Tour Championship to capture the FedExCup, and he has had only three top 10s in 30 tournaments worldwide since then.

 

He thinks he knows the fix.

 

"We played a lot with Jordan (Spieth), a lot with Zach (Johnson). We see them hit it 10 to 15 feet on average, and I'm hitting it 20 to 30," Horschel said. "For me to be a more consistent player and have those runs last longer than a four- to five-week stretch, my short game and wedge play need to be more consistent."

 

Horschel said he has worked so hard on his short game the last few months that "I'm sick of hitting wedges."

 

"If we look back at 2016, the reason I'll have had a great year is because I put in all the time on my wedge play, and it's a result of it," he said.

 

BACK TO TORREY?: Adam Scott wants to play two times during the West Coast Swing. One will be the Sony Open because Honolulu is on his way back from Australia. He loves Riviera, where he won in 2005 when it was reduced to 36 holes because of rain. Then again, Torrey Pines makes more sense because of the schedule. He could hang out in Hawaii an extra week and then tee it up the next week in San Diego.

 

Scott hasn't been to Torrey Pines since the 2008 U.S. Open. And he hasn't seen the North Course since he was a teenager.

 

He played the 1994 Junior World Championship and tied for 20th. Trevor Immelman was the runner-up that year, losing in a playoff to a kid named Ben Flam.

 

Also in the field that week: Jose Luis Campra, who now caddies for Emiliano Grillo, and Joe Skovron, the caddie for Rickie Fowler.

 

STAT OF THE WEEK: Of the 14 players who have won the Masters and British Open, two are not yet in the World Golf Hall of Fame – Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson.

 

FINAL WORD: "They weren't like Jordan and Rory, winning multiple majors in their early 20s. There was really only Tiger doing that at the time." – Adam Scott, comparing young players today with his generation.

 

Copyright (2015) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This article was written by Doug Ferguson from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.