On Sunday at Wentworth Golf Club, Billy Horschel capped a season of nearlies and almosts with a cathartic BMW PGA Championship victory. Horschel drained a lengthy eagle putt on the second playoff hole to top Rory McIlroy—another recent victim of the “so close” syndrome—and raised both hands to the sky in a show of relief as much as triumph.

Billy Horschel became the first American golfer to win the BMW PGA Championship twice when he holed a brilliant eagle to beat four-time major winner Rory McIlroy in a playoff on Sunday.Horschel showed no sign of nerves when he sank a long putt from near the edge of the green on the second playoff hole,

McIlroy had a chance to win it in regulation, but his birdie attempt missed low. Both Horschel and McIlroy made birdie on the first playoff hole, but it’s Horschel taking the title and adding another what-if to McIlroy’s 2024 season.