PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Billy Horschel, surrounded by his immediate family, was applauded long and loud by his First Coast family on Thursday at the TPC Sawgrass when he and his wife Brittany were recognized as the 10th and 11th recipients of the Deane Beman Award for service to the area through golf.
Then came the surprise of the evening: Horschel, an eight-time PGA Tour winner and the 21st-ranked golfer in the world was at a momentary loss for words when he accepted the award from its namesake, former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, at the Celebration of Golf Banquet.
“I’m sort of speechless and if you know me, that doesn’t happen very often,” said Horschel, a fan and media favorite on the PGA Tour because of his unbridled enthusiasm for playing the game that lifted him from modest means while growing up in Grant-Valkaria, halfway between Cocoa Beach and Vero Beach. “This means the world to us.”
Horschel took note of the fact that he and the rest of the PGA Tour have benefited from the product Beman created when he was the commissioner from 1974-1994, taking a niche sport global, launching a charitable platform that this year will pass $3 billion in giving and establishing the First Coast as its base with the PGA Tour headquarters, The Players Championship and the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
“Deane is an icon in this sport and without Deane I wouldn’t have the platform I have to play this wonderful game of golf and be able to give back to the game and this community. I think everyone in this room would agree that without Deane we wouldn’t be in this room. He created an unbelievable product and set the foundation for decades of success.”
Billy, Brittany Horschel met as junior golfers
Brittany Horschel, a Nease graduate, met her husband when they were junior golfers and later when both were on the golf teams at the University of Florida.
The Horschels first began donating and working with Feeding Northeast Florida and their efforts branched out to K-9s for Warriors and Horschel lending his name and support to the American Junior Golf Association (Billy Horschel is a member of the AJGA national board) and the Advocates Professional Golf Tour, which provides playing opportunities to minority golfers.
They took it a step further in the fall of 2023 when they launched the Horschel Family Foundation and partnered with the PGA Tour to create the PAR Program (Privacy, Access, Resources), designed to address substance abuse and mental health locally.
“This is an absolute honor to be given this award,” Brittany Horschel told the crowd of nearly 300 people that included PGA Tour winners Jim Furyk, Fred Funk, Matt Every, Jason Gore, Beman and Bob Dickson. “The unique thing about giving back is that there are no rules. It doesn’t matter how little of a gesture you do or how much money you give. It’s all giving back and it’s all making a difference in your community. That is truly my passion and it’s Billy’s passion, helping people, giving back, seeing the light in their eyes.”
Billy Horschel inspired by Jim and Tabitha Furyk
Horschel, 38, became the first active PGA Tour player to receive the award and he and Brittany Horschel became the second husband and wife team to be honored in the last three years.
Horschel made sure to credit that earlier couple, Jim and Tabitha Furyk, with inspiring him and his wife by their example.
“We’re very fortunate to be led by two great role models that we call friends who have laid a foundation and path to help this community,” Horschel said, turning to the Furyks at their table. “Thank you for your friendship and showing us how to give back to this community.”
Horschel also said the decision by he and his wife to move to the First Coast early in his career, where they are raising their three children, has been a blessing.
“I love this community,” he said. “We want to make a difference in this community.”
Billy Horschel learned early about helping people in need
Before the banquet, Horschel said much of his motivation comes from growing up in what he called a lower-middle-class environment but in a strong family where his parents showed him by example a core belief in always being ready to help a neighbor in need.
“We didn’t come from money,” he said. “But one thing my parents instilled in us is that we can help, help our friends, help our neighbors in times of need. During hurricanes, during tough times, you go lend a hand. If you don’t have the financial resources, you lend a hand in whatever way you can. I watched my parents and then followed their lead.”
Horschel said his turning point was winning the 2014 FedEx Cup and his largest single payday as a professional golfer. He’s 26th on the career money list with nearly $41 million, which Horschel said gives him and his wife the ability to make an impact.
“When you get in a position to have success on the PGA Tour … you want to make a difference,” he said. “We want to leave the world in a better place than we found it. But even if you make a difference in one person’s life, that goes a long way.”
Horschels donate to JAGA Charitable Trust
The Horschels also had a parting gift: they announced at the end of the festivities that they have donated $20,000 to the Jacksonville Area Golf Association Charitable Trust, which will fund scholarships for two First Coast high school students.
The JAGA Charitable Trust has raised more than $2 million and awarded more than 400 scholarships since 1974.
Other golf organizations recognized
The Celebration of Golf Banquet, which is presented by Circle K, recognizes the leadership and accomplishments of four major First Coast golf organizations, the Jacksonville Area Golf Association, the Northern Chapter PGA, the Jacksonville Women’s Golf Association and the Northeast Florida Superintendents Association.
Who are the past Beman Award winners?
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2015: Deane Beman
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2016: Herb Peyton
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2017: John Hayt
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2018: Joe Louis Barrow Jr.
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2019: Anne Nimnicht
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2020: John Tucker
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2021-22: No award
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2023: Jim and Tabitha Furyk
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2024: Tommy Dudley
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2025: Billy and Brittany Horschel
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Billy and Brittany Horschel receive the ninth annual Deane Beman Award
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