Billy Horschel draws a tough pool for Match Play with Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Keith Mitchell

Billy Horschel of Ponte Vedra Beach, who won the Dell Technologies Match Play two years ago, has drawn one of the tougher pools for the World Golf Championship event that begins Wednesday at the Austin Country Club, in Austin, Texas.

Horschel is in a pool with world No. 2 Jon Rahm, resurgent Rickie Fowler and Keith Mitchell of St. Simons Island, Ga., who has been carving out a solid PGA Tour career since winning the Honda Classic in 2019.

Rahm won three of his first seven starts and was No. 1 in the world before withdrawing from The Players Championship before the second round because of an illness; Fowler has six top-20 finishes and three top-10s this season, with a tie for 13th in The Players; and Mitchell has three top-10s and has missed only two cuts this season.

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Horschel, ranked 24th in the world, needs something good to happen this week. His missed cut at The Players was his fourth in six events and his last top-10 in an official money event was a tie for seventh at the CJ Cup last October.

Horschel beat Scottie Scheffler 2 and 1 in 2021. Scheffler got to the finals last year and topped Kevin Kisner 4 and 3, after edging Horschel 1-up in the round of 16.

Horschel won his pool last year with a 2-0-1 record. He has an 8-2-1 record in the last two events.

Scheffler is in a pool with Tom Kim, Alex Noren and Davis Riley. One of the more intriguing pools is Jordan Spieth, Taylor Montgomery, Shane Lowry and Mackenzie Hughes. Montgomery won last week’s Valspar Championship by two shots over Spieth, who tied for third.

Lee on the verge

Min Woo Lee of Australia, who became a crowd favorite when he contended at The Players Championship, is on the cusp of earning Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour this week in Austin.

If Lee wins his pool he will earn the necessary non-member FedEx Cup points to earn his membership. Lee is in a pool with U.S. Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick, Saith Theegala and J.J. Spaun.

Lee was in the final twosome on Sunday at The Players with eventual winner Scheffler, and was tied for the lead through three holes until a triple-bogey at No. 4. He eventually finished tied for sixth.

Father of the year nominee

Adam Schenk will finally take a break — and his busy PGA Tour schedule has been designed to give him a longer break once his wife Courtney gives birth to their first child in about a month.

Schenk, who maintains residences in Ponte Vedra Beach and Indiana, is the only PGA Tour player to have entered every event since the Sony Open. The Valspar Championship was his 10th in a row and he missed only two cuts — one of them The Players.

There’s a method to his madness: Schenk said he wanted to pile up as many FedEx Cup points as possible because once his wife delivers, he’s taking an extended break from the Tour.

“Trying to make as many points as I can to take as much time off as I can and spend time with him and my wife, which will be very special,” Schenk said after his third round last week.

He finished solo second in Palm Harbor, thanks mainly to an errant drive to the left that put him against an impossible lie against a tree trunk. He made bogey to fall out of a tie with Montgomery.

It was his first top-10 this season but he’s played to much — and made 12 of 17 cuts, with four top-20s — Schenk was in good shape even before Valspar. Now he’s 31st on the points list and has room to breathe.

He also scored more brownie points with his wife before the final round. She flew to Tampa the night before, arriving in the wee hours of the morning, and he made her breakfast before going to the course.

Tour creates junior development program

The PGA Tour has launched its Pathway to Progression player development program for 24 junior golfers in underrepresented communities.

With the help of the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA), American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), Cameron Champ Foundation, First Tee, Jim Thorpe Invitational, Notah Begay III Junior National Championship and UNDERRATED Golf presented by Stephen Curry, the juniors will be identified and given the chance to participate in a joint AJGA/Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) junior golf tournament, a two-day development camp and shootout at TPC Sawgrass.

They also will receive developmental support and college preparatory tools.

The collegiate program will align with PGA Tour and APGA Collegiate Ranking goals to provide top Black collegiate players with transitional support to the pros, elevating awareness, competitive opportunities and education for players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, while providing career development opportunities.

This includes, with support from partners at the GCAA, Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) and Golfstat, a continued HBCU Coaches Summit at the GCAA National Convention. Top performers will also participate in a two-day development camp at TPC Sawgrass.

“Through the Pathway to Progression program, we hope to motivate and inspire the next generation of golfers from diverse and underrepresented communities,” said PGA Tour vice president, player development Kenyatta Ramsey.

PGA TOUR

Event: Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, Wednesday-Sunday, Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas.

At stake: $20 million purse ($3 million and 550 FedEx Cup points to the winner.

Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler.

TV: Golf Channel (Wednesday-Friday, 2-8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.- noon); NBC (Saturday, 12-6 p.m., Sunday, 3-7 p.m.).

Area players entered: Harris English, Brian Harman, Billy Horschel, Keith Mitchell, J.T. Poston, Davis Thompson.

Notable: Scheffler defeated Kevin Kisner 4 and 3 in the championship match, a year after he lost to Horschel in the finals. … Also playing are Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schaffele, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay. … Pool play begins on Wednesday, with the 16 winners advancing to elimination rounds on Saturday.

Event: Corales Puntacana Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Puntacana Resort, Dominican Republic.

At stake: $3.8 million purse ($684,000 and 300 FedEx Cup points to the winner.

Defending champion: Chad Ramey.

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m.).

Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Jonas Blixt, Jonathan Byrd, Russell Knox, Carl Yuan.

Notable: Ramey shot 67 in the final round to beat Ben Martin and Alex Smalley by one shot.

LPGA TOUR

Event: Drive On Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, Gold Canyon, Ariz.

At stake: $1.75 million purse ($315,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: Leona Maguire.

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 7-9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 9-11 p.m.).

Area players entered: Chella Choi, Mel Reid.

Notable: Maguire defeated Lexi Thompson by three shots.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

Event: Galleri Classic, Friday-Sunday, Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, Calif.

At stake: $2.2 million purse ($330,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: First-year event.

TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 11 p.m.-1 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m.).

Area players entered: David Duval, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh.

Notable: The Champions Tour is being played at the former site of the LPGA’s first major championship, which has moved to Houston.

KORN FERRY TOUR

Event: Club Car Championship, Thursday-Sunday, The Landings Golf Club, Deercreek Course, Savannah.

At stake: $1 million purse ($180,000 to the winner).

Defending champion: T.J. Vogel.

TV: None.

Area players entered: Chris Baker, A.J. Crouch, Taylor Dickson, Lanto Griffin, Jared Wolfe.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Billy Horschel has to get past world No. 2 Jon Rahm in Dell Match Play