CASTLE ROCK, Colorado – Billy Horschel understands perhaps better than anyone that the person who plays the best all year on the PGA Tour doesn’t necessarily become the FedEx Cup winner.

That’s exactly what he experienced 10 years ago.

Horschel played strong golf for several weeks, winning several tournaments in a row and the FedEx Cup title. He wasn’t the guy who had the best summer or even the best year.

He barely played a role in the biggest tournaments of 2014, his name was barely present. And before the PGA Tour playoff events, he had only two top-10 finishes, none of them since June.

So Horschel had good timing, a factor that is as important in the FedEx Cup playoff scenario as it is for a good year.

For this reason, he disagrees with Scottie Scheffler’s assessment that it is silly to call the race a “season race.”

“The best player has never been rewarded during the entire regular season,” Horschel said on Wednesday in Castle Pines, where the BMW Championship begins on Thursday. “I won the FedEx Cup in 2014. Rory McIlroy was clearly the best player this year. He won two majors. He got off to a good start. I was 69th at the start of the FedEx.”

“I missed the first cut (when there were four playoff events). I go second, win, win and win the FedEx Cup. That’s no different than the New York Giants beating the New England Patriots (after the 2007 NFL season) and starting the playoffs 9-7, I believe, and the Patriots going undefeated and then winning the Super Bowl.

“I think if you ask two other people, you’ll get two different opinions on the FedEx Cup and what they think is the best way to go, but I believe that our system and the way we do it – could we reward the regular season a little bit more? Sure, we can. But this is playoffs. Anything can happen.”

Horschel’s run a decade ago actually began after a missed cut at Barclays. Then there were 36-hole cuts in the first two playoff events. He finished second at the Deutsche Bank Championship and then won the BMW in Denver at Cherry Hills – the last time it was played in the area.

He won in Atlanta and played the last 36 holes at East Lake against McIlroy, then number 1 in the world. He won by three strokes ahead of McIlroy and Jim Furyk.

Despite playing for huge sums of money for most of his career, a $10 million bonus ($1 million was deposited into a retirement account) was a significant help to Horschel, who has now won the PGA Tour eight times. While the prize money in golf is so large that the sums are mind-boggling, the bonus Horschel received has proved to be a good thing for others.

He paid his caddie Micah Fugitt a million-dollar bonus. He eventually established a foundation in the Jacksonville, Florida, area where he lives, and became involved in other charitable causes.

“I was a working-class kid, a real working man,” Horschel said. “My dad worked in construction for 50 years. Neither of my parents had a college degree. There were times when one of my parents would be unemployed for months at a time, so I don’t come from a wealthy family. I’ve never had any money in my life. Winning the FedEx Cup in 2014 was life-changing and the fact that it pretty much set me and my family up financially for the rest of our lives was a big moment in that regard. I knew that as long as I continued to play well and be smart with my money, I was pretty much set up financially for the rest of my life.”

The Horschel Family Foundation is relatively new, but Horschel immediately began supporting various charities in his hometown. He started an American Junior Golf Association event in his name as well as an APGA event. His foundation has several focuses, including mental health and addiction.

“I think most people know that my wife (Brittany) had a drinking problem and has been sober for eight years,” he said. “As you go through life, whether it’s financial or not, you want to give back and that’s something that my wife and I have always cared about and we try to do a really good job of helping people.”

One of them was Fugitt, who worked for Horschel for several years before the two parted ways in 2017. In the meantime, he worked for numerous other players before returning to Horschel ahead of the 2023 PGA Championship.

With the money, Fugitt was able to prepare his children for college – they are now 11 and 16 and “they now have the opportunity to use the money however they want,” he said. He also bought a new home in the Waco, Texas, area where he lives.

The separation is simply part of life as a caddy, he said.

“It’s one thing,” Fugitt said. “I understand that, and you learn that it’s usually nothing personal and there’s no point in damaging relationships. He played great then and then things got better.”

Since reuniting, they have experienced ups and downs, including a difficult stretch last summer when Horschel shot 84 at the Memorial, a tournament he won the year before.

But he bounced back with a solid 2024, winning the Puntacana Championship and was in contention at the British Open at Royal Troon, where he led in the third round before finishing second behind Xander Schauffele.

Since then, he has finished seventh at the Wyndham Championship and 10th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, putting him 19th in the FedEx Cup standings.

That’s a long time since 10 years ago, a time in which a lot has evolved, including his game.

“I’m never satisfied with what I’ve achieved in golf,” said Horschel. “I’m always trying to get better. I live by the motto: If I don’t try to get better every day, I’ll get worse. People will overtake me.”

“But I’ve been a player for a long time. I’ve become more intelligent when it comes to preparing and getting ready for tournaments, analyzing a golf course and moving around the golf course.

“I think emotionally and mentally, my demeanor on the golf course is completely different. But that was 10 years ago. I was 27. I’m 37. I hope I’ve learned something and become wiser in those 10 years, and I think I’ve done that.”