Garrick Higgo (born 12 May 1999) is a South African professional golfer who currently plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

and the Sunshine Tour. He has won three times on the European Tour, winning the 2020 Open de Portugal and the

Gran Canaria Lopesan Open The Gran Canaria Lopesan Open was a professional golf tournament held 22–25 April 2021 at Meloneras Golf in Gran Canaria, Spain. The tournament was intended to be a one-off event and was played the week before the Tenerife Open, after that eve ...

as well as the Canary Islands Championship in 2021. He won his first

title in his second start, at the Palmetto Championship.

Amateur career

Higgo attended the

University of Nevada-Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

in 2017 and 2018, turning professional during his sophomore year.

Professional career

Higgo turned professional in early 2019 and won twice in his first full season on the Sunshine Tour, at the Sun City Challenge and the season-ending

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

. He also recorded a runner-up finish in the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History T ...

co-sanctioned Cape Town Open during the 2019–20 season and finished 6th on the Order of Merit. Higgo secured a place on the Challenge Tour for the 2020 season by making the cut at the European Tour Qualifying School. In September 2020, at the Open de Portugal, a dual-ranking event on the European and Challenge tours, he shot a bogey-free final round of 65 to win by one stroke and gain a one-year exemption on the

. In April 2021, Higgo secured his second European Tour victory at the

. He won the event with an aggregate score of 255, beating Andy Sullivan's record of 257 previously set in 2020. Two weeks later, Higgo won again in the Canary Islands, at the Canary Islands Championship, a final score of 27 under-par; 257, saw him win by six shots ahead of Maverick Antcliff. In June 2021, Higgo won the PGA Tour's Palmetto Championship in South Carolina by one stroke. With the win, Higgo won more than $1,300,000 and secured

membership through the end of the 2023 season.

Personal life

Higgo was born on 12 May 1999 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, to Susan and Michael Higgo. He started playing golf socially with his father at a very young age and developed an early passion for the game. In 2008, when Higgo was aged 9, his father died in a car crash. Higgo attended

Paul Roos Gymnasium Paul Roos Gymnasium is a public, dual medium (Afrikaans & English) high school for boys in the town of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa, and opened on the 1st of March 1866 as Stellenbosch Gymnasium. It is the 12th oldest school in the c ...

in the town of Stellenbosch. He has been mentored by South African golfer,

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

throughout his career and often meets with Player to discuss course and play strategies. Higgo lives in the town of

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

. Higgo has two siblings, Calista and Michael.

Amateur wins

*2016 Curro South African Juniors International, Northern Amateur Open, Central Gauteng Open Stroke Play *2017 Nomads National Order of Merit (Coastal), Cape Province Open, The Bobby Locke Open, Harry Oppenheimer Trophy Source:

Professional wins (7)

PGA Tour wins (1)

European Tour wins (3)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Sunshine Tour wins (2)

Challenge Tour wins (1)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Big Easy Tour wins (1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic
WD = withdrew
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

Amateur * Junior Presidents Cup (representing the International team): 2017

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgo, Garrick South African male golfers Sunshine Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Olympic golfers of South Africa Golfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Left-handed golfers Golfers from Johannesburg 1999 births Living people