2017 U.S. Open: Billy Horschel cards a four-over … on the first hole

Billy Horschel's very bad hole. (via usopen.com) — Billy Horschel’s very bad hole. (via usopen.com)

You know the tired old line about how you can’t win a major on Thursday, but you can lose it? Billy Horschel saw that line, and raised it by a factor of 18, quite possibly losing his shot at the U.S. Open on the very first freaking hole.

As you can see from the shot tracker above, Horschel got into trouble right off the tee, landing out of bounds. His second shot (third on the scorecard, with the penalty) reached the fairway, and his fourth shot flew the green … and then his troubles began. Five more shots later, he was in the hole, four strokes over par, six off the lead, and in a world of hurt from the drop.

Horschel’s the definition of a feast-or-famine player; this season alone, he’s got four top 10s, including a victory at the Byron Nelson, to go with eight missed cuts in 19 tournaments. This, alas, may be one of the weeks he goes hungry. Which is not easy to do in Wisconsin.

Look, it’s possible Horschel could get right back into contention; there are four par-5s on this course, and he’s won a tourney or two before. But if not, well … we know where to place the blame.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports