CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — Billy Horschel, finally ready for his closeup, sprinted 50 yards uphill toward thousands of fans waiting around the final green Sunday at Cherry Hills Country Club.
A do-or-die 17th hole finally behind him, Horschel’s dramatic arrival had the orchestra strings starting to swell, heartstrings ready to pull. And everyone leaned forward for his big moment.
Was he running to reunite with a long-lost grandfather? Finally meeting his pregnant wife for an emotional embrace on the biggest day of his professional career?
Horschel had other plans. He ducked under the ropes and kept on running, straight through the gallery to some nearby trailers.
He needed a bathroom break.
“I’m sure the whole world saw me sprint, but I had to go,” Horschel said.
Before everyone held their breath for Horschel’s big revelation, the make-or-break final four holes at the BMW Championship decided the title — especially a mind-warp 17th that forced the field to pick a side.
Sergio Garcia walked off the 16th green within striking distance of Horschel, two strokes behind at 12-under par. The Spaniard earlier eagled No. 7 to leap into contention. Then he birdied the most difficult hole on the course — the 247-yard par-3 15th.
Garcia was riding high. But on 17, he picked safety out of his bag and, 251 yards from the green, laid up on the par-5 instead of going for the island green in two. And he still ended up with a hope-killing triple bogey after chipping his fourth shot into the water.
“It’s really disappointing, obviously, with 17,” Garcia said. “It’s what happens when you’re just not mentally sharp. If I was mentally sharp, if I was rested … I would have talked myself into going for the green.”
Garcia finished five strokes back.
At the same time, Rickie Fowler chose the more aggressive route. He went for broke from 240 yards and put his second shot on the green. He needed an eagle to maintain his slim chances, but he birdied and finished five back.
And Bubba Watson — who over four days had perhaps the best drives on 17, far enough to reach a ridge that treats the fairway like quotation marks — turned an even shorter play than Fowler into an eagle try. Watson missed, tapped in his birdie putt and finished two strokes back.
PHOTOS: Billy Horschel wins the Golf’s 2014 FedExCup BMW Championship
Horschel, playing in the final threesome, and eyeing the leaderboard, went into cruise control and played it safe, parring his last 11 holes.
“I knew if Sergio birdied 17, I was going to have to probably at least get one birdie just to feel a little more comfortable,” Horschel said. “I saw that he laid up. Then before I hit my second shot from the bunker, I saw he chipped it into the water.
“That sort of gave me a little bit of relief.”
Two strokes up on Watson, Horschel needed only a bogey on his final hole to win. He hit a perfect drive on the exacting par-4, then “just a perfect 9-iron” approach for an easy par.
“It was a grind coming in,” Herschel said. “I was just happy to finally hold on and get a victory.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
