From Plastic Clubs to PGA Champion
Garrick Higgo has quietly built a reputation as one of golf’s coolest customers. That calm paid off big in the Dominican Republic last weekend (17-20 April 2025), where he secured his second PGA Tour title at the Corales Puntacana Championship.
The 25-year-old South African golfer shot a final-round 72 to finish at 14-under-par, just one stroke ahead of runner-up Joel Dahmen. Dahmen was in the hunt until bogeys on the final three holes knocked him out of contention.
What You Didn’t Know About Garrick Higgo
- Early bloomer – He was swinging plastic clubs at three years old.
- Switched from rugby – A rugby injury at 13 ended his contact sport days and led him to focus on golf.
- Hospitality student – Higgo studied hospitality management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before turning pro.
- Double amateur debut – He was the first South African to compete in the U.S. Amateur and Junior Amateur in the same year (2016).
- Swings left, writes right – Higgo plays golf left-handed, even though he’s naturally right-handed.
This is Higgo’s first PGA Tour win since his 2021 debut at the Palmetto Championship. That victory put him on the map, this one shows he plans to stay. The most recent win earned Higgo over R13 million ($720,000) and boosted his confidence ahead of the rest of the season. More importantly, it signals that South African golf has another serious contender in the mix.
Higgo has won three times on the European Tour – the 2020 Open de Portugal, the 2021 Gran Canaria Lopesan Open and the 2021 Canary Islands Championship.
After turning professional in early 2019, the youngster won twice in his first full season on the Sunshine Tour, at the Sun City Challenge and the season-ending Tour Championship. Higgo also recorded a runner-up finish in the Challenge Tour co-sanctioned Cape Town Open during the 2019–20 season and finished 6th on the Order of Merit.