Harry Higgs shoots 62 at Mayakoba despite "fighting uphill" in 2022

Harry Higgs experienced "a lot of consecutive poor days" in the lead-up to the World Wide Technology Championship on the PGA Tour, but he put them aside on Friday.

Matt Chivers's picture
Sat, 5 Nov 2022
Harry Higgs shoots 62 at Mayakoba despite "fighting uphill battle" in 2022

PGA Tour fan favourite Harry Higgs put three consecutive missed cuts to the back of his mind with a stunning 62 on Friday to contend at the World Wide Technology Championship.

After his score of 9-under in the second round at Mayakoba, Higgs admitted he "doesn't know what will happen" when he tees sit up on Tour, attributing bad reactions to bad shots as one of his weaknesses.

Nonetheless, he maintained his composure by making seven birdies and an eagle on the par-4 3rd hole at El Camaleon Golf Club to reach 10-under for the week. He is six shots behind three-time Tour winner Russell Henley heading into the weekend.

The popular American maintained his Tour card through this season by finishing between 126 and 150 in the Eligibility Points List in 2022, but it was a year to forget as he missed more cuts than he made.

Higgs earned his first Tour card in 2019 by coming fifth on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. He has since shot to fame with his outgoing personality and shirt-removing antics at the WM Phoenix Open. But yesterday, we saw a reflective side to Higgs.

"Like I have had a lot of poor days and a lot of consecutive poor days, and then I've also had not as many as I would like, but I've had some days that were great where I had full control, I was making good decisions, I was kind of, as we all say, getting out of my own way," Higgs said.

"I was not doing that maybe two, three times a month. I feel like I did a good job. I made one poor decision yesterday. I feel like obviously today, today you didn't make any poor decisions, you shot 9-under. And it's only going to get more difficult now, right?

"Tomorrow, like I have a lot to - we all have a lot to play for, but I have a lot to play for. I had a very poor year by my standards and kind of fighting uphill for the entirety of this year. This week is a bonus that World Wide Technologies gave me a sponsor exemption.

"You know, there's doubt and uncertainty for every one of us and we all have to deal with it and fight through it.

"But I also have to be careful when I hit a poor shot or make a bad decision to not react as poorly as I have been because that spirals me straight down. I mean, and then it's just an uphill battle," he added.

"Honestly, I've acted so poorly for so long at shots that were not even really that bad, like I don't have a chance to gain that certainty and gain that kind of, you know, it's confidence, right?"

Higgs is currently tied sixth in what is a competitive leaderboard in Mexico. Defending champion Viktor Hovland has carded rounds of 65 and 69 so far to sit on 8-under, eight shots behind Henley.

Collin Morikawa, Davis Riley and Francesco Molinari are all tied 14th with the young Norwegian as he looks to win this event for the third time in a row.