Cherry Hills Village, CO – Six days after former eGolf Tour player Chris Kirk captured the PGA TOUR’s Deutsche Bank Championship to surge to the top of the FedEx Cup points standings, former eGolf Tour winner Billy Horschel threw his name in the hat for the top spot in the annual $10 million dollar playoff series. The former Florida Gator star, who earned his first pro win at the eGolf Tour’s Columbia Open in 2009, posted rounds of 68-66-63-69—266 en route to claiming the BMW Championship at famed Cherry Hills on Sunday, all while sliding into the No. 2 position on the points list with the season-ending TOUR Championship on tap this week in Atlanta.

Horschel’s week at the suburban Denver club began in solid fashion, with rounds of 68-66—134 to sit at 6-under par entering Saturday’s third round.

Trailing 36-hole leader Sergio Garcia by two shots, the Ponte Vedra Beach, FL resident sat at 1-under par through seven holes before finishing day three on a tear. Birdies on Nos. 8 and 10 moved Horschel to 9-under par for the week, but it was a closing stretch that featured birdies on 14, 15, 17 and 18 that sealed his spot atop the 54-hole leaderboard.

Horschel’s dominant back-nine performance delivered a 7-under 63, a 13-under par tally, and a three-shot lead over Ryan Palmer entering yesterday’s fourth and final round.

Billy Horschel

Sunday saw a handful of contenders make runs at Horschel, but nothing that ever threatened his lead. Bubba Watson and Garcia came within a few shots, but the former’s charge was too little, too late, while the latter came unglued with a triple-bogey on the par-5 17th to fall out of the mix.

After turning in 1-under 33, Horschel went into cruise control, paring Nos. 10 through 18 on his way to a final-round 69, and a two-shot win over Watson.

The victory was a bit of redemption for Horschel, who bogeyed the par-5 18th at TPC Boston during last Monday’s final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship to finish runner-up to Kirk. A fat 6-iron found the hazard short of the green, leading many to speculate if the brash and confident one-time PGA TOUR winner had actually choked.

Horschel never listened.

“I think what I'm more proud about is the way people on Twitter and social media like to comment on that and say that I choked and you're no good, all this. That doesn't affect me, but I just like to stick it to them and it was nice to get that victory and stick it to some of those people that had some negative comments for me on Twitter, and I don't mind it,” he said. “You want to keep saying negative things to me that just adds fuel to my fire, and I'm just going to stick it to you every time.”

The win moved Horschel to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup rankings, just nine points behind Kirk, who finished T36 at Cherry Hills to maintain a slim lead.

In full realization that he could stand atop the FedEx Cup next Sunday at host East Lake Golf Club – should he continue his stellar play – Horschel didn’t back down one bit when asked if he would be a tournament favorite entering the TOUR Championship.

"I'm not going to go ahead and guarantee a victory right now," Horschel said, "but I will say that I'm probably going to play very well and I will have a chance to win on Sunday."

Horschel’s amateur resume was stacked with accolades, earning three first-team “All America” selections at Florida and twice being named SEC “Player of the Year.” In 2007, he represented the United States on the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team, winning three of his four matches for the week.

When he turned professional in 2009, Horschel turned to the eGolf Tour, posting three top-10 finishes in four starts, as well as his first professional win at the Columbia Open, en route to earning $68,566 for a 12th-place finish on the season-ending money list.

Since then, Horschel has competed on the PGA TOUR, overcoming a wrist injury and multiple trips to Q-School to breakthrough in 2013 with his first win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which helped to cement his status as one of the game’s rising stars.

Former eGolf Tour member Morgan Hoffmann tied the week’s low round with a 7-under 63 on Sunday to finish alone in third place at 11-under par – three shots back of Horschel.

The final-round rally was well-timed for Hoffmann, who vaulted from No. 68 to No. 21 in the FedEx Cup standings, in turn solidifying his spot in the TOUR Championship field.

Other eGolf Tour players in the field at Cherry Hills include Chesson Hadley (T12), Kevin Chappell (T16), Russell Knox (T23), Daniel Summerhays (T29), Cameron Tringale (T31), Brendon Todd (T36), Brian Harman (T43), Matt Every (T50), Will MacKenzie (T59), William McGirt (65), Jason Bohn (66) and Keegan Bradley (WD). For full-field results from the BMW Championship on PGATOUR.com, please click here.