High octane Horschel paces himself to Memorial lead

DUBLIN, Ohio – Billy Horschel has never been accused of being slow but a more deliberate process has sent the high-octane former FedEx Cup champ to an impressive five-shot lead at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

RELATED: Leaderboard | Horschel builds five-shot lead at the Memorial Tournament

Horschel fashioned an ultra-impressive 7-under 65 in Saturday’s third round at Muirfield Village to surge to 13-under for the tournament, five clear of PLAYERS champion and World No. 3 Cameron Smith (72) and one-time TOUR winner Aaron Wise (69) with just 18 holes to play.

The Floridian has always had an upbeat and high paced personality and finds it unnatural to slow down. He walks faster between shots than most and talks a million miles an hour with a seemingly endless stream of consciousness. And when it comes his turn to hit, you best not blink or you might miss it.

But the key to Horschel being just one round away from an iconic victory at Jack’s place has been fighting against the instinct of speed. Instead, he is forcing himself to see the full process of each shot, making sure he has a clear picture in his mind, and executing accordingly.

“It’s just going through our process, making sure we have a number where we're trying to land the ball, talking about the shot, the club selection, the wind. When we do that, it allows me to have a clearer picture and have a little bit more of a higher acceptance level over the golf shot,” Horschel explained after stretching his bogey-free run to 44 holes.

“I move very quick, and I'm impatient, and so I'm ready to go without always being clear on everything. Sometimes I just want to get the golf shot over with.

“Yes, I am an idiot for not doing what I know works every time. If I'm going to win the golf tournaments I want to win, and I feel like I can win, then I need to do a better job of it on a daily, weekly basis, especially when it comes to the bigger events.”

After missing the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge Horschel called a meeting of sorts with his caddie Mark ‘Fooch’ Fulcher and the two made a pact to get back to the process that has helped the six-time TOUR winner to two runner-up finishes earlier this season. It’s about balancing the energy Horschel uses to his advantage, but can also be a detriment if he gets too wired.

This time around he’s expecting to close the deal. Horschel is 2 for 4 in converting 54-hole leads on the PGA TOUR, winning the 2014 BMW Championship and TOUR Championship from in front in his FedExCup claiming run that year.

But he also let a two-shot lead slide at the 2013 Valero Texas Open and was tied for the lead earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational only to shoot 75 Sunday and miss out by one.

Despite the large margin Horschel knows the last two TOUR events saw the winner came from seven shots adrift. As such he says he can’t start playing conservative now.

“I just have to go to the tee understanding I'm leading the tournament… and try to play a really good round of golf. I'm not going to be protective; I'm not going to be overly aggressive. I'm going to play the way I have the last three days,” he said.

“We're going to hit the golf shots that are required, and I know if we do that it's going to give me the best chance to be victorious. I've been doing this for 13 years now out here, so I think I should have a pretty clear understanding of what I need to do and the feelings and the emotions I'm going to have tomorrow.”

The most likely contenders for the crown come in Smith and Wise. The Australian Smith had to once again rely on some incredible short game shots to stay in the mix after his swing proved out of sync most of the round.

But having blitzed his way to a win at TPC Sawgrass thanks to a final round rush earlier this season, Smith knows what it takes. He won’t go down without a fight.

“I really have to go out there tomorrow and have to hit it better. Today was pretty unacceptable to be honest… but you've just got to hang in there. Golf is a crazy game. You've got to try and get as much out of it as you can. I feel as though my good is really good, and my bad is getting better,” Smith said.

“You never know what this course is going to throw at you. Anything can really happen around here. This place is unreal. it seems like you can have a birdie on every hole and you can make a double or triple quite quickly, as well.”