2014 FedExCup champion: Billy Horschel

It was a season unlike any other on the PGA TOUR in 2013-14. For the first time, the TOUR went to a wrap-around schedule and, more than 11 months after the season's first tee shot was struck, Billy Horschel was crowned FedExCup champion. Horschel became the third consecutive FedExCup champion to claim the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and FedExCup from inside the top 5 of the standings at the start of the event. He became the first since Tiger Woods (2007) to win the final two Playoff events en route to claiming the FedExCup, and the first to win golf's richest prize after starting the Playoffs outside the top 30 in the standings. Here's a look at Horschel's season and how he won the FedExCup:

Horschel's reaction to winning the FedExCup

• On winning the FedExCup: It's surreal, it really is. It hits me a little bit and it still doesn't hit me. But you know, I woke up this morning and I just had this sense of calm over me, which is a little bit unusual, but I was just so calm waking up, and I wasn't nervous at all, and got to the course and felt so relaxed out there.

• His dream of claiming the top prize: I just remember something like that in December or January, I just had this (dream) ‑‑ you know, I woke up and I wasn't sure if it was real or not because it was very faint, but I remember holding up the FedExCup trophy, and as the season went along, I never thought about it, but I just said, well, maybe it was just a dream that wasn't real. And obviously being in the position where I was, I thought about it last week after I won.  I've thought about it this week a little bit that maybe this is actually something that is supposed to happen.

• On talking to his parents after the win: So my parents have given my brothers -- Chris and Brian -- and I such a great life and such a great opportunity to do great things in this world without the means that other people have. So for them to be there for this great victory that I have and with everything that comes from it, you know, my parents are‑‑ I'm going to take care of them very well.

• On what changed for him this season: Just a couple of things.  Like I said, the mental mindset, changing the way I acted out on the golf course.  Being a little bit less hard on myself, being accepting of the golf shots, however they turned out.
The other thing was I got one of the best teachers in the game of golf.  I don't think anyone can come close to what he does.  He's just not a swing coach.  He's a short game coach.  He's a putting coach.  He talks to me about the mental side of the game and I mean Todd Anderson is just unbelievable.  There's not a better guy in this business and I think if you went up‑and‑down the range, talked to players and coaches, they would say the same exact thing that I'm saying.  

Season in review

For the longest time, it looked as though Billy Horschel's follow-up act to 2013's breakout campaign would be disappointing. After all, he left The Barclays with seven missed cuts and just two top-10 finishes in his first 24 starts. This a season after racking up eight top 10s and his maiden victory in 26 TOUR starts. But then something happened. Horschel, more than two months removed from his last top-40 finish, found something at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Horschel contended down the stretch, finishing tied for second, but would not know the feeling of coming up short for the remainder of the FedExCup Playoffs. The former Florida Gator claimed both the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola to claim the FedExCup after starting the Playoffs at No. 69 in the standings. What makes it more impressive is that Horsdhel played all four rounds in the final pairing, the last two with World No. 1 Rory McIlroy.