ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2026

Billy Horschel

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. How was your day?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it was good. Any time you play bogey-free around here it's really good. I didn't have a great warm-up. Todd and I have been working really hard the last couple weeks and we have seen some good things. We know what we need to do, it just hasn't been repeatable. Hoping for a better warm-up this morning, it wasn't really good, and I didn't know what was going to happen out there. But I hit a couple good shots early to sort of give me a little confidence. Played really nicely. Something that I can hopefully build off the next few days.

Q. I don't think you had a birdie until 10 or 11.

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, number 11. I had opportunities.

Q. I was wondering how, if you were hitting it halfway decent, and how do you stay patient?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Listen, this golf course you know par's a really good score. I didn't take advantage of a really good drive on 4. I hit the wrong club on my second shot. I actually got a really very, very fortunate break. I was up against the fence, I could play the shot away from the hole, but there was a generator there that was locked to the fence. And they called the rules and called Ken Tackett and everything, and after a little discussion I was able to get a free relief from that. So that was huge to make par. I had some opportunities on 6 and 7 and 9. Just stayed patient. I was able to make a couple birdies on the back side there.

Q. How are you feeling, how are you coming along from probably a pretty arduous recovery I got to think?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Let's just say the hip didn't feel really good this morning. It was tired, it was sore, it hurt a little bit. It's a day-to-day thing. Last couple days it's felt pretty good. Just certain days it's still, there's still an issue. I don't think I've been very, I haven't probably given the full scope of the hip because I don't want people to think if I'm not playing well right now the hip's the issue or anything. But there was a lot of damage to the hip. The torn labrum was fine, but it was a big tear. They had to shave down some bone. But I had two micro fractures in the hip as well. Those are something that takes a year or two to heal. So I've trained really well at the end of the year to put myself in a position to come back and play. There's no, the hip isn't an excuse for playing bad, but my sports psychologist and a couple of my other guys on my team my physios talking with other doctors that they know around the country and they sort of check up on me. They're all a little shocked I've come back as quickly as I have and I'm able to do what I am.

Q. So you're just in the middle of the process of really getting back to it?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, listen, I've been practicing hard for a while now but listen, it's a day-to-day thing. I'm not a person for 16 years of my career I never had an issue waking up in the morning and the body didn't feel great. Yeah some days it was a little tired and sore, but never had any pain in the body. Never had any issues that, you know, not to make an excuse, but limit your ability to play well, or you had to make compensations for as you go about the day or try and swing. But I knew at some point in my career I was going to have to deal with something. And the hip's not too bad. Like I said, I mean, the play this year hasn't been because of the hip. It's just technically and mechanically some things are off and, listen, the hip also, at the same time, it's a day-to-day thing. It feels different and how I need to load and make a golf swing, sometimes it wants to be active and work and sometimes it still just wants to be a little slow and be bay bead.

Q. You can't hurt it more, can you?

BILLY HORSCHEL: No, I can't hurt it more. There's nothing -- that's why I continue to play, because I know I can't hurt it more. It's just building up the endurance. It's just the two micro fractures healing and getting better. Those just take time. Listen, I've had my trainer, I've had my Alex Bennett, I had my two physios and Brian Smith and David Richardson and then my PT Sophie, even though they've given me the green light to continue to play and been fine, it's just, it's a healing process, and it's just going to take a little more time for it to get back to 100 percent.

Q. When you hear that it's going to take a year to fully come back, initially what goes through your mind and how does that affect the competitor inside you?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Well, when the doctor said it's a year to two for the micro fracture and everything, you know, that part -- I try to beat timelines. I don't listen. I think I'm different. I worked, I think my -- everyone knows me and on my team I worked really hard from surgery in May to end of last year and even continuing to work very hard for the first couple months to try and overcome that. I think, as cocky and I can be at times, I think I can overcome that and beat that and show the doctors, Hey, you were wrong on this situation. But there's a reason they're doctors and there's a reason I'm not.

Q. I was going to ask, was the doctor wrong in this?

BILLY HORSCHEL: No, no, listen. I would say, because I had a wrist surgery in 2010, I know that took a full year to get back. I mean, I played four months after surgery and I was fine, but it was a year of not having to ice it after rounds wherever day not to be tight, maybe not swell up. So the hip's a very similar situation. I just can't see it swell up. I can feel it. I can feel it get a little tight, feel a little puffy. But that's -- sometimes I think I can beat the year process that they always seem to say, it is a year. I've seen it in other sports you see guys come back from an ACL injury, you see guys come back from Achilles and all this other stuff, and they're back playing six, seven, eight, nine months. And they're playing, but they're not back to 100 percent. They're not nearly as explosive. The recovery of it on a day-to-day basis isn't as great as it was before surgery. So, you know, I think, like a lot of athletes, I think we can always beat that timeline. But, you know, the body, we can never overcome what the body needs to take time on.

Q. Before the surgery we know your golf swing and the routine, work out, everything. Did you change anything after the surgery or you keep the same swing as before everything?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Swing's the same. The only great thing is the doctor was able to give me some more internal rotation in my right hip. I had three degrees, and that's why I got to the position where I needed surgery. I got a torn labrum and the hip impingement, bone on bone was rubbing against each other. So he was able to shave down some bone and give me a little more hip turn, internal rotation, which helps the back swing and helps me load easier. It's actually been a really good thing. But like I said, it's just day-to-day things. Sometimes as I turn into and I sit into it, sometimes it will stay and want to be sat into, and other days it just wants to get out of that position.

Q. Do you take some confidence away from today, and I know this tournament means a lot to you, I mean you started coming here, what, how old were you?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I came, I don't know what time, how old I was, I just remember coming here in college and caddieing in the pro-am, coming to watch the event. I'm sure I came here as a kid once or twice. Yeah, I love this event. This course is really good. I get so much support out here. Yeah, I enjoy having the chance to win in 2022 and it was disappointing not to get the victory, but it was really cool to be in a position like that. Obviously a good friend of mine, Matt Every's won it twice back-to-back. I would love to be able to say I've won it beside him as well. Yeah, it takes some confidence. Listen, the game's building, it's getting better, I just need to be a little better with the swing. I just need more reps, I just need to groove it in a little bit more. I hit some shots out there today that I was really happy with, and then I hit some shots that turned out well, but the swing wasn't the way I wanted. So as a perfectionist I want everything to be perfect. I want to swing well, I want it to turn out well. But at the end of the day it's not always about being perfect, it's about putting the ball in the hole with the least amount of shots and I did a really good job of that today.