"I thought Rory McIlroy was great" - 8x PGA Tour winner recalls meeting the Northern Irishman when he was 17

Rory McIlroy asserted his dominance in the golf world from an early age. During his amateur career, several golfers and legends were convinced that the Northern Irish youngster possessed enormous skill. Billy Horschel, who recently appeared on The Thing About Golf podcast, stated that he and McIlroy faced off a handful of times when they were younger, and that Horschel felt McIlroy was brilliant at the time.

Billy Horschel talked about then 17-year-old Rory McIlroy by joking about how good his career has been so far. Horschel described their first meeting and how they played a couple of rounds against one another. He said:

"There was a kid by the name of Rory McIlroy. He has done okay in his career! He had just finished low amateur at Carnoustie... He was only 17 at the time. He did not come over to America to play that I can remember... But we knew he was really good."

Following this, Billy Horschel remarked that seeing Rory McIlroy's game let him realize how successful the latter would become. Horchel even offered the young McIlroy any assistance he required when he visited America to play the game. He continued:

"I probably went overboard a little bit... I thought Rory was great and said if you need anything in America, I am happy to help, and the next day, I read some comments [from him]. I'm like, well, this is as expected. From there until where we are now, I think the world of him."

After a long rivalry with each other, Billy Horschel and Rory McIlroy now share mutual respect for each other.

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Rory McIlroy once admitted that he 'despised' Billy Horschel

Travelers Championship 2025 - Final Round - Source: Getty

Billy Horschel and Rory McIlroy competed against each other for the first time in the 2007 Walker Cup. During his interview with Subpar Podcast in September 2023, McIlroy revealed how he used to detest Horschel in 2007.

In the podcast, McIlroy was asked which two golfers he would prefer to hit in the face: Patrick Reed or Billy Horschel. The 2025 Masters winner selected Horschel without hesitation, stating:

"And that's saying something. I absolutely despised him and we've actually become really close since, which is great, but I think as well we were all probably obnoxious at the time but I think he was pretty rude to the crowd at times I was like 'they're my people' I was like 'I'm going to beat his a**.'"

Fast forward to now, and the two golfers are very close and, according to Horschel, they also text each other frequently. Right now, Horschel is out of the game owing to hip surgery. In early May, the golfer announced that he was taking time off for this preventative surgery on his right hip in Colorado. He is likely to be ruled out for the rest of the 2025 PGA Tour season.