As if playing the Bear Trap wasn’t difficult enough, Billy Horschel had to deal with a mouthy spectator Friday at the Cognizant Classic.
The incident took place after Horschel played his second shot at the par-3 15th hole, the first of PGA National’s intimidating three-hole stretch. Horschel had sent his tee ball into the grandstand long and left of the green, taken his drop and then proceeded to skull his chip over the green and into the water. That’s when a spectator sitting in the grandstand chirped at Horschel.
“Listen, everyone has been saying, ‘Overseed, overseed,’” Horschel said. “It wasn’t the first time I heard it today, but obviously in that situation, I hit a bad golf shot and they wanted to say it.”
The heckle prompted Horschel to turn around and inquire, “Who said that?” As he reached into his bag for another golf ball, Horschel clapped back, “I mean, I guess you guys wanna make yourselves feel good about yourselves with a comment like that, don’t ya?”
The spectator then accused Horschel of bad-mouthing the golf course, according to Horschel’s account of the exchange, which wasn’t totally audible on the broadcast.
“Complaints about your course?” Horschel could be heard responding. “I said it’s been pretty good, my man. Maybe you should read the entire comments.”
Billy Ho responds to a chirping fan at @the_cognizant. 👀 pic.twitter.com/nMbWacD9FU
— Skratch (@Skratch) February 27, 2026
Horschel is referring to comments he made after Thursday’s first round, in which he addressed the ryegrass overseeding that PGA National has done in recent years, a switch from the traditional Bermuda-only grass that once made the course one of the most challenging on Tour. Last year, Jake Knapp shot 59 and Joe Highsmith won at 19 under, while this year, 36-hole leader Austin Smotherman already sits at 11 under.
“I think the tour gets a bad rap, and it’s not anything against the owners of PGA National,” Horschel said on Thursday. “I understand where they would want to overseed. People want it to look pretty on TV, and if it looks pretty on TV, maybe people will want to come play it. But at the end of the day, as I’ve said for many years on the PGA Tour, I understand we are using a golf course that we don’t own a lot of times, and sometimes we’re at the discretion of what the owner wants to do. Obviously, we give our opinion of what we think is best for the golf course and how they want to set it up and challenge it; but also, the owners have a say in it. But I think for me, as I said last year, born and raised in Florida, playing a Bermuda golf course, this far down south and playing overseed, it’s going to be soft.”
Horschel added, “It’s not a shot at anyone. It was just sort of commenting to someone who was taking a shot at the PGA Tour, and I sort of gave them a little more insight that it’s not always in the PGA Tour’s hands. If they want to try and do something, it’s not always in their hands to set it up the way they want to.”
Fast forward to Friday, and Horschel, who ended up carding a triple bogey on No. 15 after playing his fourth shot from the drop zone and two-putting from 23 feet, continued to clarify his opinion.
“I’ve praised this golf course for many, many years,” Horschel said. “If I didn’t like this golf course, I wouldn’t come here and play every year. … I’ve enjoyed this golf course. When it’s benign, it’s gettable. When it’s the way it is the last two days with the wind blowing, it’s a challenge. I wanted to make sure I informed him on that. I said, ‘Maybe you should be more informed of the situation,’ and that was it. I walked back to the drop area, hit a shot and walked off with a ‘6.’ There was no more said.”
The spectator, however, was removed from the grounds, a police officer later told Horschel.
“I said, ‘I didn’t ask for him to be kicked out,’” Horschel said. “They said, ‘No, I guess he’s been saying some other stuff throughout the day,’ and they proceeded to just escort him out of here. Listen, everyone has a right to say things. I think there’s just a level of respect – understand we’re trying to do a job out here. We are really good golfers, and we can make the game look very easy, but at the end of the day, it is a job. … I think I can interact with a crowd as much or as little as anybody out here. But I just think it should be respectful. That’s all I ask for. It’s not like I’m going to their job sniping off to them a little bit.
“But like I said, it’s fine. I don’t care. At that moment, I hit a bad golf shot, I questioned somebody, and the guy said a few more things, and I just said, ‘You need to be more informed on what I said.’”
Horschel added bogeys at Nos. 17 and 18, playing his final four holes in 5 over to card a 2-over 73 and make the cut on the number at even par. Horschel chalked up the poor finish to bad golf swings, not being rattled by what happened at No. 15.
“A fan affecting me out on the golf course will never happen,” Horschel said. “I affect myself enough.”