Much was made out of Billy Horschel fighting his way to the top of the leaderboard in last week’s Open Championship and securing his first-ever 54-hole lead in a major.

That Horschel’s closing 3-under 68 took a back seat to Xander Schauffele’s scintillating 65 that captured the Claret Jug is understandable. Ties for second place just don’t tickle our fancy.

Ah, but they should warrant our respect. Especially when they are authored by a player who reminds us of that old adage that is the answer to a litany of complaints by pro golfers. “Just play better.”

Horschel is that player.

It was only a year ago when Horschel faced the music at the Memorial Tournament. He had opened with an 84, as the defending champ no less, and Horschel didn’t blow off the media; he stood tall and poured his heart out. “Listen, my confidence is the lowest it’s been in my entire career,” he said.

Eighteenth in the Official World Golf Rankings to start ’23, when Horschel missed the cut at the Open Championship a year ago he fell to 47th and kept sliding. He failed to make the FedExCup playoffs and had every reason to call it a lost season.

Instead, Horschel chose a European route in the fall to find his form – the Irish Open, the BMW PGA, the French Open, and the Dunhill Links.

“He was going to play the hand he had been dealt,” said Todd Anderson, Horschel’s longtime swing coach. “Billy wasn’t about to ask for a pity part. Billy doesn’t feel entitled.”

There’s never a good time to go into a tailspin but 2023 was especially bad if you were a member of the PGA Tour. That’s because a new series of $20m and $25m tournaments was being introduced for 2024 and because fields were limited to 65-80 players, a lot of notable names sat outside looking in.

Horschel was among them, unable to play in any of the first six of the eight Signature Events.

Debate the merits of these small-field, mega-rich tournaments featuring the same marquee names, should you desire, but Horschel never complained. “There are still great tournaments I can play in,” he said late last fall and Anderson confirms that his longtime student embraced the challenge ahead of him.

“He was just going to go and do it,” said Anderson. “There’s only one road back into the majors and the (Signature Events). Go play well.”

To appreciate Horschel’s road in 2024, consider this: He is currently ranked 33rd in the OWGR and of those who are in the Top 35, Horschel is the only one who was left out of multiple majors (the Masters and U.S. Open). No. 17 Robert McIntyre was a DNQ for the Masters but played in the other threes. The other 33 names were in all four majors.

Translation: Billy Horschel deserves credit for having traveled a tougher road in ’24.

The early part of 2024 didn’t go well and when Horschel missed the cut at the Players Championship in March he was 91st in the world. He was also circling tournaments that the Signature Events crowd have no interest in, but Horschel grew up hanging drywall for part-time work so he didn’t turn his nose up at tournaments that “only” offered purses of $8 and $9 million.

Instead, he sucked it up and began a string of top 20 finishes from Honolulu to Palm Beach to Tampa to Houston. While the Signature Event lads were in Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage, Horschel was winning the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.

He had assured himself entry into the PGA Championship where he finished T-8. And while he didn’t qualify for the U.S. Open, he got into the seventh of eight Signature Events (the Memorial) where a T-15 helped firm up his spot into the Open Championship.

There was something tantalizing about watching Horschel play his third round “when it was blowing so hard and raining so hard,” said Anderson. “He was out there smiling, playing in short sleeves” and relishing the opportunity.

His Saturday 69 pushed him to 4-under, leading by one over a stellar group of names, including Schauffele. It is a major championship staple to wonder on Sunday morning what score could win and from Pete Cowen, an esteemed swing coach who has decades of experience, Anderson heard the suggestion that 6-under was the number.

Billy Horschel shot 68 for 7-under and in most cases would have won. Schauffele, however, is on a brilliant role and stormed to victory at 9-under.

“I’m disappointed. I should feel disappointed. I had a chance to win a major,” said Horschel. “But we’ll look back on this in an hour . . . I’ll be happy with how I played.”

Horschel has a firm embrace on perspective and it’s always been a remarkable study, this partnership with Anderson. What is cemented in the memory banks is the 2013 Honda Classic at PGA National when Horschel got into contention with 66-69, then imploded with a third-round 81.

Onlookers and media folks who anticipated some sort of emotional outburst might have been surprised to view Horschel’s even-keel reaction. It was soon understood why. Anderson’s teenage son, Tucker, had been in a horrific automobile accident in late 2012 and the heartache for the family was unbearable.

Horschel was a witness to the incredible strength that galvanized the family. When Tucker dramatically improved well enough to attend that 2013 Honda Classic, Horschel kept looking over during his second round and smiling.

So how, Horschel said following the third-round 81, was he going to have a meltdown over bad golf after Tucker had courageously handled something far more serious?

Horschel has said that he always remembered what Anderson said during the aftermath of Tucker’s accident. “There’s no manual to tell you what to do,” said Horschel. “But they’ve kept a positive attitude.”

That positive attitude paid dividends for Anderson and family and because Horschel has such strong rapport with his teacher, you can assume that philosophy buoys him also.