Billy Horschel prepares a gift for his 70th birthday at Dunhill Links
Instead, he will play Kingsbarns in the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship alongside his son.
“He chose here and he chose wisely,” said Horschel jnr of Horschel snr, also Billy, making this milestone occasion a small family affair in Scotland.
As Rory McIlroy has done in the past with his father Gerry, Horschel used a first appearance in the pro-am event to enjoy the delights of Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews with his old man.
“He’s got a handicap of 14, he’s usually around 11 or 12 but he had knee replacement surgery in March / April,” said Horschel, who aims to record back-to-back European Tour wins after his victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth earlier this month. “He’s been training for… two months, I think he’s back now.
“He was actually going to postpone his knee replacement until later this year. But earlier in the year I said, listen, you have to be able to play golf in September â€. That was before I knew we would play this.
“I had planned a trip for him with 14 guys (for his 70th birthday) and he needed to be able to play golf. And so when that happened, I had to remind him, “We have two options for you, you can go somewhere with 14 buddies and friends of ours, play golf, hunt and fish and do stuff, or we can go to the Dunhill Links and play as a team. â€
Apparently he was quick to comment on the latter and Horschel, who aims to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai, admitted: “I appreciated his choice because it saved me money. a few dollars.
“All these guys and what I had planned would have been a good move, but he chose to come here and experience it.
“We played the Old Course today and it was two under after ten holes. He can play well, he has that in him. But the next few holes he did a triple, and he did another triple somewhere.
