Pay close attention to Garrick Higgo. The South African player added his second title on the American circuit this Sunday at the Corales PuntaCana Championship. Not many can boast of having won twice on the PGA Tour by the age of 25. Between the Sunshine Tour, European circuit, and American circuit, he already has seven victories.
Winning once on the PGA Tour is no easy feat, and winning twice is no coincidence, even if it’s during a week with two simultaneous tournaments and the one held in Punta Cana featured a field without the top players. You don’t win twice among these fierce competitors without having a lot of quality in your hands.
It’s true that this second victory on the PGA Tour has been a long time coming, but the first one came in 2021 when he was barely in his twenties. It was precisely that same year when the Johannesburg-born player visited Spain. The DP World Tour played three consecutive tournaments in the Canary Islands that pandemic year. Two of them were won by the same player: Garrick Higgo. In the other, he finished in eighth position.
Alongside a great display in his game, he was also helped by the erratic finish of Joel Dahmen. The American ended with three consecutive bogeys that squandered the advantage he had. Especially painful for Joel was the half-metre putt.
Garrick acknowledges that he has been immersed in a swing change for two years, which has also caused him numerous injuries. You know that any change in golf causes great upheavals, imagine if what needs to change is practically the entire swing: “I’ve been working with Sean Foley now for almost two years and that was a big thing for me. As I said, we completely changed my swing. I could probably tell you 12 things we had to change. It may sound bad, but it has been a radical change from what I used to do. Anyone who plays competitively knows how difficult it is to change one thing, so changing everything, dealing with injuries, and then going out and hitting the shots I know I can hit under pressure was incredible.
He is barely playing his second tournament with Austin, his new caddie, and it seems the connection is bearing fruit from the start. Additionally, Higgo has acknowledged the inspiration that Rory’s victory at the Masters has been for him: “It was a great motivation for me to see McIlroy win last week and hit incredible shots. Seeing him fight like that motivated me greatly”.
