THE SMILING
Garrick Higgo has taken the golf world by storm in recent months. Here, we meet the talented South African...
Garrick Higgo has made a remarkable start to life on tour. His recent victory at the Palmetto Championship came in just his second PGA Tour appearance and made it four wins in nine months for the South African. The 22-year-old sits eighth on the Race to Dubai after his two wins in the Canary Islands earlier this year and now finds himself inside the world’s top 50. Elliott Heath meets the man who has taken to professional golf like a duck to water...
How did you start playing the game growing up in Johannesburg?
My dad introduced me to the game when I was little. He wasn’t a pro or anything, he just loved the game, so I went out and played with him when I was young. It was only when I was 10 or 11 that I really started to get into it properly and practised hard. The golfing bug bit me early.
Did you watch much golf as a youngster?
I never liked watching golf a lot when I was really little. I watched Ernie win the Open in 2012 and that’s kind of when I really started to watch golf, so I didn’t see Tiger in his prime either. I also watched Oosthuizen win in the 2010 Open and Charl’s victory [2011 Masters], but I wasn’t really into it yet to understand what it actually meant.
You had a year at the University of Nevada before heading home to turn pro in 2019. Was that a tough decision?
I don’t think my game was good enough when I was there. I struggled quite a bit and I didn’t play as well, but I realised and knew that I was good enough and that I could make it. I knew I needed to go home to see my coach a lot more if I wanted to get better and make it.
And you ended up winning twice in your first season on the Sunshine Tour...
It all happened so quickly, but my game just got better and better and I really worked hard. I take a lot of pride in getting better. You know, to win twice in your first year is just unreal, but I just really enjoy competing. All I want to do is just compete. It was an all-new experience for me, but I think that’s what made the Sunshine Tour so great. It’s a tour at home and the fields are strong, so you can ease into it. If the Sunshine Tour wasn’t there, I don’t know how else I would have progressed. That tour is the reason for so many great South African golfers.
You then got a Challenge Tour card by qualifying through Q-school. Can you tell us about the experience?
It’s amazing how long that week is. You just keep playing and you never really know, because it’s so long. You could shoot 90 in the first round and still get your card!
It was such a good experience. I’ve never played six competitive rounds in a row and it was amazing just to get a Challenge Tour card. I had just turned pro at the beginning of that year on the Sunshine Tour and I was prepared to play the Big Easy. I didn’t expect to do all these things so quickly, but I think because I was hungry and wanted to learn a lot, I just stuck by what I was doing and it all worked out.
Your first season then coincided with the pandemic. How did that affect things?
I didn’t actually play that much. Before Q-school, I played three Challenge Tour events and then, when I got my card, we had those three events in South Africa, where I finished second at the Cape Town Open. At that point, Covid came and nothing happened for like three months, but then I played those co-sanctioned events on the European Tour and I won the one in Portugal! I didn’t really play on the Challenge Tour for that long, which was quite funny.
Was that the best golf you’d played up to that point to win the Portugal Open?
Yeah it was, especially as the weather was horrible for two of the four days. We played nine holes where they should have called us off after the first, so it was a very draining week. I enjoy all kinds of weather; I just really like a challenge.
Fast forward to this year, then. How did it feel to produce the lowest ever European Tour score of 255 to win the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open in April?
I didn’t actually know that until a day or two after. I just have no words, it was amazing. I really wanted to win, so I just kept making birdies so the guys couldn’t catch me.
And Gary Player texted you some advice…
Yeah, he’s always said to me ‘you never really have a lead’ and I thought that was great advice. I kept thinking of that throughout the whole day, so I was playing as if I didn’t have a lead.
You then followed that up with a win two weeks later in the Canary Islands Championship and a hole-inone in the final round. Was that your first as a pro?
It’s amazing how it all happens when you least expect it, because sometimes you are standing on a par 3 and you feel good and you’re thinking you’re going to put it close, and you don’t.
Then there are times just like that – I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I had a hole-in-one at a junior tournament in 2015, but I haven’t had any others. I’ve had two albatrosses, though, but those came during practice rounds.
Does your latest win in America mean you’ll switch to the PGA Tour full time?
My dream has always been to play on the PGA Tour permanently, so at the moment, I’ll focus on that and see if I can keep going. Obviously, I’ll play on the PGA Tour for as long as I want, and hopefully I can play there forever. But I’ll play in Europe for sure. My focus is still on the Race to Dubai and I want to see how I can finish on that. I’ll play a couple of Sunshine Tour tournaments as well. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here.
What does it take to win on such a big stage?
You need a lot of patience and you just need to believe that, even if you’re going to play badly, you’ll make a score. I mean, I know I can do good things when I play well, but when you expect to win is when you usually don’t. So I never expect to win, but I try and stay in it until the last nine and see if I can close it.
How was it getting hold of decent left-handed equipment as a junior?
I’ve been with Titleist for probably ten years now. I’ve always loved Titleist; they’ve helped me since I was a junior with balls and caps and stuff; even getting me left-handed clubs when I was a junior as well. It was so hard to get them in South Africa and to get fitted for the proper ones.
Is professional golf how you imagined it?
Yeah it is. Although it’s a lot harder, it’s exactly what I expected. The travel is tough, but I knew it would be tough because travel is a mission. Amateur golf was really fun and the guys you play with are also really good mates, and I thought it would be the same on the tour. It is, but obviously not as much like mate mates, but it’s still fun and I enjoy it.
How do you cope when you’re not playing well?
It’s extremely hard. I mean, I didn’t start the year off very well; I think I missed the first three cuts and was playing horribly. I think, though, that I’m really good at learning from what I do. I mean, if you don’t, it’s extremely hard to do well. But whenever you watch TV, you only see the guys who are doing well; they don’t show the 60 guys who are going to miss cuts and who are swearing and throwing clubs. I think they should actually show them when they’re not playing as well. I mean, I get angry as well, but it’s more internal and I try not to show it.
Is the Presidents Cup on your radar and how excited are you to play in the Olympics?
Trevor Immelman captained me in the Junior Presidents Cup so it would be amazing if I could play for him again. He’s such a chilled guy and I think I’m a lot like him. I drove with him in the car every morning and it was so chilled, like he doesn’t get phased; he just really enjoys the game and gets on with his business.
As for Tokyo, it’s going to be awesome. I mean, any time I can represent South Africa it’s a massive honour. It’s going to be great playing with Christiaan Bezuidenhout. I know him very well and I know his caddie well too. Hopefully one of us can maybe get a gold for South Africa. It’ll mean a lot for the country given what everyone has been through recently.