There’s rough and then there’s whatever Garrick Higgo found himself in on Friday during the second round of the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship.
After his tee shot on the 626-yard, par-5 14th, the South African lefty went offline with his second and found himself deep in it.
“Wind was in off the right, I was trying to lay up with a 3-wood. That’s how long that par 5’s playing. I just kind of heeled it slightly and it just went on the wind,” he would later say. “So I’d say probably just not the best time to hit a heel fade, but I was kind of lucky, my lie was fine, I was just standing on some kind of dead tree, or we weren’t sure what it was. Hacked it out, chipped it close. Yeah, it wasn’t the best time to hit a heel fade.”
Standing in the native area thick with tall grasses and surrounded by trees, Higgo hit his third and managed to hack it out back, just as he said, back to the fairway.
From there, he hit on and then made the putt. He would birdie the 16th before a bogey on the 17th and a par on the 18th. It all added up to a 4-under 68, which has him at 12 under after two rounds. He’s tied with Charley Hoffman and Michael Thorbjornsen for second, but they’re all four shots back of leader Joel Dahmen as they try to keep him within striking distance heading to the weekend.
“I’m going to go for it. You know, I feel like in the past every time I’ve given myself a chance, I’ve kind of taken advantage of it. My goal is to give myself more chances and I feel like I’m starting to do that. I’m always aggressive, so I expect myself to be up there,” he said.
Higgo has one PGA Tour win, the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree. In his 99th PGA Tour start this week, but only his third in 2025, he’s in contention again. Higgo is back on the Korn Ferry Tour this year after falling short of keeping his card and then withdrawing from PGA Tour Q School in December.
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