SAN FRANCISCO -- All is well now, they say, tempestuous youth having gotten the best of them back in Northern Ireland all those years ago when Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel left the Walker Cup a bit irritated with each other.
It is somewhat amusing to hear guys who are 25 and 28, respectively, talk as if they are graybeards with decades of wisdom to draw upon.
But in golf terms, more than seven years have passed -- which is a long time in both their lives -- since Horschel got a bit too rambunctious for McIlroy, causing some bad blood between the golfers who have moved on quite nicely from their amateur days.
Will it mean anything Friday when they meet in a match at Harding Park to advance to the round of 16 in the WGC-Cadillac Match Play? Probably not -- although there remain traces of the attributes that put them in such a situation.
McIlroy defeated Brandt Snedeker and Horschel got past Jason Dufner to set up Friday's pool-play matchup which will determine who wins Group 1 -- one of 16 in the competition that will go to the knockout stage starting Saturday.
"Back then I was very confident, could be called a cocky person, a very emotional person about things, especially in that match," Horschel said. "Where you're representing your country and you're playing for not only yourself but you're playing for your teammates, that just gets me going even more.
"It's one thing playing for yourself, but when you're playing for yourself and your country you don't want to let them down. So obviously I get a little more amped up. And there were certain situations over there that my enthusiasm ... I don't want to say got out of hand. He may say it got out of hand. It's water under the bridge."
The Walker Cup is similar to the Ryder Cup, played every other year, although it is a U.S. team of amateurs against one from Great Britain & Ireland. In 2007, it was played at Royal County Down, Horschel still competing at the University of Florida, McIlroy just 18 and not long removed from earning low amateur honors at the Open Championship.
The competition is played over two days, and Horschel defeated McIlroy twice, once in singles and the other time in a foursomes match with Rickie Fowler as his partner.
Horschel was apparently quite animated, running after his ball to cheer it out, not holding back any emotion. And McIlroy became annoyed.
"His antics really pissed me off," McIlroy said to Golf Digest in 2008, the year he turned pro. "He was so loud and so obnoxious." McIlroy played Horschel again on the last day in singles, and on the first hole he hit his second shot on the par-5 and was shouting "Be good!" while the ball was in the air. McIlroy made the putt for eagle and went on to win the match.
"I gave it the loudest 'Come on!' you've ever heard," McIlroy said. "I think he got the point."
The point now is that both players look back on that time like it is ancient history, highlighting all the various accomplishments in the interim. Horschel is the reigning FedEx Cup champion on the PGA Tour. McIlroy has won five tournaments, including two majors, in the past 11 months.
"Fortunately, he's mellowed considerably since then," McIlroy said. "We've got a much better relationship now than we did after that Walker Cup. It was tough."
There's been a little bit of history since. Last year, McIlroy was vying for the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup after a three-victory season, but Horschel won two playoff events, including the season-ending Tour Championship, to take the title.
"If he wins the Tour Championship and wins the FedEx Cup, that's probably one of the top five greatest seasons of all time," Horschel said. "And I was the roadblock. I stopped him from that. If anything, he's going to come out with a little bit more. Not that he needs it."
He doesn't, and neither does Horschel. McIlroy hasn't made a bogey in two days and Horschel would love nothing more than to get in the way of another run by the world's No. 1.
It should be an interesting match, and if they want to revisit their amateur days in any way, it could make it all the more enjoyable.
