Thursday 16 October 2014 10:24, UK
FedEx Cup winner Billy Horschel admits missing the Ryder Cup was actually a blessing in disguise on a personal level as he gets back to competitive action this week.
It was not so much avoiding another United States defeat as the fact it meant he could spend time at home following the birth of his first child.
Horschel's final three finishes of last season were second, first, first as he claimed the 10 million dollar (£6.2million) FedEx Cup first prize but he was just too late for selection on to Tom Watson's team.
That prevented him having to make a difficult decision as his daughter Skylar was born just two days after he won the Tour Championship.
"If I happened to be chosen we (he and his wife Britanny) were going to see what our doctors recommended, whether they could induce early or anything," said Horschel, speaking ahead of his first start of the new season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.
"But it was a blessing in disguise. I loved it that she (Skylar) came when she did and that I wasn't picked because I was home for two weeks and I got to be with her for four weeks total.
"Those are four weeks early in her life that I'm happy I could be a part of because I'm going to miss a lot of weeks, unfortunately, with playing golf. It meant more to me than it did to her."
I'm going to keep getting better. I'm going to keep working hard, and if I just keep making small strides at improving in this game then hopefully everything else will take care of itself - that's the way it did at BMW and Tour Championship.
Having watched the Ryder Cup defeat at Gleneagles on television, Horschel admits the US side has reached the point where something drastic has to be done.
"Like every American I think we're sort of tired of it. We're at a breaking point, and that's what you saw," he added.
"You saw some players (referring to Phil Mickelson's open criticism of Watson's captaincy) that were frustrated and all they wanted to do was vent a little bit.
"I think that the process needs to change. I've been a little hard on the PGA of America but I feel like they need to do a better job than what they have done already."
Horschel finished last season with 12 successive sub-60 rounds and he has no plans to alter his approach as he gets back to competitive action in this week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
"Obviously with being the FedEx Cup champion you can have expectations soar but that's not going to change," he added.
"I'm just going to keep that same mental approach. I don't expect anything less, I don't expect anything more from myself with being a FedEx Cup champion.
"I'm just going to have the same expectations I've had ever since I started playing this game.
"I'm going to keep getting better. I'm going to keep working hard, and if I just keep making small strides at improving in this game then hopefully everything else will take care of itself - that's the way it did at the BMW and Tour Championship."
Watch the Shriners Hospitals for Childrean Open live on Sky Sports 4 from 10pm on Thursday.
