Harry

Higgs

Higgs enters the week at 111th in the FedExCup race but he’s still trying to figure out where his lost ball-striking skills have gone. “I’m certainly proud of the positions I’ve put myself in with what I would probably call my C, C-minus game. Just one of these weeks it’s going to click and I can finally turn my darn brain off and go out and have a great result.” When looking at strokes gained off-the-tee plus approach, Higgs has gained in that ball-striking metric in just 24 percent of his rounds in the last year. That puts him in the bottom 10 of this week’s field. He continues to piece together good weeks from time to time but his consistency levels are far from the peak that we saw back in 2019 and 2020.

This duo overlapped one year while at Southern Methodist. They tested their team chemistry last year in their Zurich Classic debuts but missed the cut with rounds of 65-75. They’ll give it another shot this week. Higgs arrives with top 40s in three of his last four starts including a T7 at the Puerto Rico Open. As for Smotherman, he’s just 157th in the FedExCup race with just two top-30 finishes in 16 starts this season.

Higgs shot 10-under 62 in the third round of The American Express ... with a double bogey. He had 12 birdies and the one double to tie the lowest round of his Tour career. It was one of three 62s on Saturday (Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Sebastian Munoz). But it wasn’t the best round of the day. Dylan Wu shot 61 at the Nicklaus course to vault from T-59 to T-9, entering the final round.

It has been a rough 2022 for Higgs after a promising campaign the year prior, but a rare bright spot arrived two weeks ago with a sizzling 62 in the second round at Mayakoba. He stalled out over the weekend in Mexico, finishing T-32, but now is back on the leaderboard after a bogey-free 63 on the Seaside Course Friday. Higgs is one of three players tied for the lead at 12 under, one shot clear of another trio on a tightly-packed board. The 130 is a new career-low for 36-hole scoring, and he now has a piece of the 36-hole lead for the second time after the 2019 Bermuda Championship, where he ultimately finished second. That is one of two runner-up finishes for Higgs, who seeks his first win in his 88th career start on Tour but had missed six straight cuts prior to Mayakoba.

Higgs shined at the 2021 PGA Championship, finishing T-4 and netting a Masters invite in the process, but it’s been a struggle this year for the gregarious fan favorite. Higgs has missed 16 of his last 20 cuts, including six in a row, losing his fully exempt status in the process. As a result he needed a sponsor exemption to get into the field this week in Mexico, where he shot a 9-under 62 Friday that included seven birdies and an eagle on the par-4 third hole. He heads into the weekend at 10 under, three shots behind Sam Ryder with other leaders still on the course Friday afternoon. Higgs finished T-14 in his Masters debut in April, but he hasn’t cracked the top 10 since a T-9 finish at the CJ Cup more than a year ago.

The SMU product arrived on the heels of five straight missed cuts, dating back to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in August. “I legitimately have not played good golf since the Masters in April, and Lord knows why. Well, actually, one of the definites is I was way too hard on myself.” Higgs went from finishing 55th and 66th in the FedExCup race his first two seasons on the PGA TOUR to landing outside the top 145 last year. Higgs got the job done today with a strong short game, carding a blemish-free round despite landing just 11 GIR. This will be just his second round posting inside of the top 10 on the leaderboard since the Masters last April (T7 after R3 of the Barracuda Championship).

Higgs was slow out of the gate this week with 4 points on Thursday. He caught fire with seven birdies on Friday and added three more today with a Stableford-friendly eagle, as well. “I shoot good scores when I drive it to a place where I don’t have to chip out. I’ve hit a lot of good iron shots and holed some kind of bonus putts. The first day I just hit a few balls just into a spot where I had to chip out.” Higgs ranks T8 in GIR this week but just T96 in fairways hit. Higgs arrived at 146th in the FedExCup standings so he’ll be scratching and clawing for any and all points he can find tomorrow.

The 30-year-old Higgs finished 69th over the weekend at the Charles Schwab Challenge, where he opened with a 69 for his best round of the week, and steadily lost ground following rounds of 71 and 75 before ballooning to an 80 in the final round. On the season, Higgs has made 12 cuts in 22 starts with one top 10 (T-9, CJ Cup @ Summit). Hickock, also 30, missed the cut at the Charles Schwab after shooting 71-71. He’s made nine cuts in 22 starts this season with one top 10 (fourth, Houston Open). This week will mark his tournament debut at Muirfield Village. In other field updates on Monday, Sam Ryder (MC at Schwab) moved into the field after England’s Laird Shepherd withdrew.

The 30-year-old Higgs, who qualified for his first Masters via a T-4 finish at last year’s PGA Championship in his major championship debut, said the experience “exceeded expectations.” “It was a good finish, nonetheless,” he said Sunday. “Would have liked to have had one or two more and seen how it stacks up, but positive. I haven’t played good golf in six months, so this is a nice result for me.” On the season, Higgs has made nine cuts in 16 starts with his best finish being a T-9 at the CJ Cup @ Summit in October. He’ll head to Harbour Town Golf Links this week for his third start in the RBC Heritage, where he finished T-59 last year and T-52 in 2020.

Affectionately known as “The Big Rig” the 30-year-old carded five birdies against four bogeys in the opening round. Figuratively going streaking on Nos. 2-4, Higgs connected on three birdies in a row after a bogey on his first hole. Making his first par on the par-4 sixth, the world No. 162 steadied a bit over the last half of his day. Higgs was invited to this Masters via his fourth-place in his lone major appearance last year at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Taking full advantage of the opportunity, he will look to keep the momentum rolling tomorrow at 12:13 p.m. EST.