PGA TOUR
Palmetto Championship at Congaree
Rising Star Garrick Higgo Wins Palmetto Championship
Garrick Higgo is the hottest golfer on the planet right now! The 22-year-old South African won his maiden PGA Tour event at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree Golf Club by one shot. It is his third victory worldwide in the past two months after he collected two wins on the European Tour. In April, Higgo won the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open by three shots. Two weeks later, he won the Canary Islands Championship by six shots. With his win this week in South Carolina, Higgo becomes the first player to win a PGA Tour event in his first two starts since Jim Benepe in 1988.
Higgo, who received a special exemption via the PGA Tour Commissioner to make the field this week, posted rounds of 68, 69, 68 and 68 to reach 11-under. He was the only player in the field to fire all four rounds in the 60s. The world No. 54 started the final round six shots behind 54-hole leader Chesson Hadley. Higgo covered the front nine in 36 shots to be even par for the day. He then lit up his round with a superb eagle three at the par 5, 12th hole. After making a birdie at the 14th hole, Higgo completed the round with four straight pars to sign for a back nine 3-under 32. He finished the event at 11-under.
Hadley began the final round with the outright lead holding a four-shot advantage over Harris English. The 33-year-old American was searching for his first win in seven years. He was awarded the 2014 PGA Tour Rookie of The Year after winning the Puerto Rico Open that season. Hadley was the unlikely third round leader—the now world No. 320 entered the event on the back of five consecutive missed cuts. And, his best finish this season was T13 at the Corales Puntacan Resort & Club Championship.
Hadley made a nervous start with back-to-back bogeys at the 2nd and 3rd holes. A steadying birdie at the 4th hole led to a run of five consecutive pars to make the turn in 37 shots and 1-over for the round. Hadley made another bogey at the 10th hole before his second birdie for the day at the 12th hole restored his two-shot lead. However, a string of poor iron shots down the stretch led to a bogey, bogey, bogey finish to the round. He missed a nine-foot par putt at the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Higgo.
Hadley carded a final round 4-over 75 to drop to 10-under for the event. He was joint runner-up with compatriots Hudson Swafford, Doc Redman, Bo Van Pelt, England’s Tyrell Hatton and Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson began the final round in a tie for third place at 8-under. The 36-year-old, who owns 24 PGA Tour wins, was looking for his first title in his home state of South Carolina. The two-time major champion fell out of contention with a triple bogey at the 16th hole. The calamity included his first three-putt green in 141 holes. Johnson dropped to 8-under for the event and finished in a tie for tenth place. It was his first top 10 result on the PGA Tour since February.
Rhein Gibson was the best-placed Australian in the field. The 35-year-old got to 5-under and finished in a tie for 25th place. The hopes of another Aussie Mark Hensby ended abruptly on Thursday mid-way through his round. Hensby, who turns 50 this month, was playing his second PGA Tour event in three years. The one-time PGA Tour winner incurred a 10-shot penalty under the ‘One Ball Rule’ after he noticed at the eighth hole he was playing a different model golf ball to the model he used at the start of the round. The additional shots pushed him from two-over through eight holes to a whopping 12-over. The 2004 John Deere winner finished the day at 13-over and withdrew after the round. Hensby unknowingly dropped the unfamiliar ball into play after he found the water hazard at the fourth hole. Hensby was assessed a two-shot penalty for each hole he used the wrong ball (five holes).
Brooks Koepka was the most notable player to miss the cut. The world No. 8 struggled with rounds of 72 and 73 to sit at 3-over. The four-time major winner missed the weekend by two strokes. Koepka won the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this year before undergoing knee surgery. He looks ahead to next week in a bid to score his third US Open title in five years.
The PGA Tour moves to California for the US Open at Torrey Pines, South Course. Bryson DeChambeau is the defending champion.
Final Scores
Palmetto Championship
1. Garrick Higgo -11
T2. Chesson Hadley -10
T2. Bo Van Pelt -10
T2. Hudson Swafford -10
T2. Doc Redman -10
T2. Jhonattan Vegas -10
T2. Tyrell Hatton -10
Australians
T25. Rhein Gibson -5
T44. Aaron Baddeley -2
MC. Greg Chalmers
WD. Cameron Percy
WD. Mark Hensby
Photo credit: Mike Ehrmann /Getty Images
