Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
Story highlights
Billy Horschel shares lead with Chris Kirk after round one of Tour Championship
Horschel's wife is due to give birth to their first child this month
Golfer is in contention to win the $10 million FedEx Cup prize
He says he will keep playing if his wife goes into labor during tournament
It’s a big dilemma: Be with your wife for the birth of your first child, or stay at work with the hope of an $11 million payday.
For golfer Billy Horschel, it’s a no-brainer.
“There wasn’t much discussion. I brought up the question, she said: ‘You’re staying.’ ”
Horschel is one of five players who can claim the $10 million jackpot for topping the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff series by winning the $1.44 million Tour Championship finale in Atlanta.
The 27-year-old made the best possible start Thursday as he tied for the first-round lead with longtime friend Chris Kirk, who heads the FedEx standings from second-placed Horschel.
Horschel won last week’s BMW Championship and was joint runner-up in the second of the four playoff events, so his hopes are high that he can secure his family’s financial future this weekend.
“My wife is totally on board,” he told the PGA Tour website after his four-under-par 66. “She’s a golfer. She understands what it all means. I’ve probably got the greatest wife out here.”
Their daughter, to be named Skylar Lillian, is due on September 27 but could arrive earlier.
Horschel said if his wife Brittany does go into labor in the next few days, he doesn’t want to be told until he completes his round.
Then, with a private jet standing by, he will make the one-hour flight back to Florida.
Because of the tournament’s restricted 29-man field – there would usually be around 150 players for the first two rounds of a regular PGA Tour event before the halfway cut – he will have time to get back to resume playing the next day.
“I won’t find out on the course, because my focus may be taken away from the task at hand,” Horschel said. “But after the round’s over with, I will be flying home, spend a few hours and then flying back later that day or the next morning before the round of golf.
“Having a chance to win $10 million and our first child on the way – it’s pretty amazing.”
Last year, Hunter Mahan – who carded 74 Thursday to be well off the pace – withdrew from the Canadian Open while he was leading to be at the birth of his first child.
“Hunter did a great thing last year pulling out,” Horschel said. “But I would think if he was in my position with winning, having a chance to win, roughly $10 million more, if you had the Tour Championship winner’s check and everything, I think it would be maybe a no-brainer to stay put and keep playing and go home in between rounds.”
Read: Tour Championship leaderboard
Impending fatherhood is only adding to the excitement for Horschel, who partnered the comparatively calm Kirk in the final group to go out Thursday. They have known each other since playing at rival schools and progressing through the amateur ranks.
“He looks like he’s a Fred Couples walking slow and nothing affects him,” Horschel says of the 29-year-old Georgia native.
“And I think I walk slow, but as I’ve seen on the coverage last week, it looks like I’m sprinting around the greens and the golf course … The emotional level is a little bit different.”
They were one shot clear of another four players tied for third: Masters champion Bubba Watson, fellow Americans Jim Furyk and Patrick Reed, plus Australian Jason Day.
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy – who like Kirk, Horschel, Watson and Mahan can secure the bumper jackpot with victory Sunday no matter where any other player finishes – was tied for 11th on 69 with Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Ryan Palmer.
If none of the top five win, then the permutations get complicated, but it’s possible for any player in the entire field to claim the $10 million with victory.
Read: $10M fast track to retirement?