'A lot of guys are hypocrites, that are lying': Billy Horschel unloads on LIV Golf players

Billy Horschel, never shy about speaking his mind, lashed out Tuesday at golfers who have jumped to the LIV Golf League, calling them out for statements in which they claim PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and his executive staff turned deaf ears to their concerns about scheduling and earnings.

“There’s a lot of guys that are hypocrites, that aren’t telling the truth, that are lying about some things,” said Horschel at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, the site of this week’s Genesis Scottish Open. “I can’t stand to sit here anymore and be diplomatic about it, as I have been in the past.”

Horschel’s bone of contention is that Monahan and the PGA Tour listened and perhaps the players who bolted for the LIV League got responses they didn’t want to hear.

“They’re saying Jay doesn’t listen, the Tour doesn’t listen to us,” Horschel, the 2014 FedEx Cup champion, said. “Jay Monahan and everyone at headquarters is the PGA Tour. They work tirelessly for us to reap the financial rewards we have and have all the opportunities we have. At the same time, I am one of 200-plus members. I am the PGA Tour. When you're taking shots at the PGA Tour and taking shots at Jay Monahan, you're taking shots at us. And to say they don't listen is a complete farce, it really is. If they listened to everything 200-plus players on the PGA Tour said, it would be a complete mess. We couldn’t have a Tour.”

Horschel also said LIV Golf players saying they jumped so they could play less golf comes off as disingenuous since the Tour requires members to play only 15 events per year to have voting rights and the LIV Golf schedule calls for 14 events next season.

“It’s ridiculous to hear some of these comments: ‘It allows me to play less tournaments,’” Horschel said. “No one forced you to play that many events. Play 15. That’s fine. We have an opportunity to make our own schedule.”

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Horschel, who won the Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 5, pointed out that after next week’s Open Championship, he will have been away from his wife and three children for five weeks.

“It’s what we decided when we laid the schedule out … it just worked out that way,” he said of the decision between he and his wife Brittany made before the season began. “I made a decision to not see my wife and kids for five weeks. Am I crying about it?”

Horschel also had a request for the Tour players who have gone over to the LIV League but continue to take pot-shots at the Tour.

“Go play your LIV Tour and forget about PGA Tour,” he said.

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Billy Horschel: Those who jumped to LIV Golf from PGA Tour hypocrites