Johannesburg - At 22-years-old playing for a first prize of R54.6m is something that will get your attention, and that certainly will be the case for South Africa’s Garrick Higgo when he tees it up at The Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass starting on Thursday.
The first place prize money is quite staggering when you convert the $3.6m to rands, and the second place payout of $2.2m (R33.1m) is in the same ballpark. In fact, 10th place will earn around R8.2m and the top 36 players will make at least $100 000 (R1.5m).
It’s great work, if you can get it. Higgo who is already a PGA Tour event winner is quite aware of the vast sums he will be playing for this week at the unofficial fifth major.
“I think everybody thinks about it, for sure. Guys that say it’s not about the money - are definitely lying,” said Higgo on Wednesday.
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“It’s not my main focus, it’s something that’s a bonus if you play well. I definitely want to achieve great things in the game, maybe one day get into the [World Golf] Hall of Fame. It’s a bit of both, because money is quite important in this world. It’s not everything for me, but I’m not going to say it doesn’t matter.
“I played in the Junior Players here four years ago and I thought it would be nice to play in the main event. Now as a player on the PGA Tour, it’s our biggest event and it’s the one we all want to win. Obviously the purse is massive as well. It’s equal to a major, I would say. It does feel like a major week.”
Higgo has already had a phenomenal start to his career since turning professional in 2019. He’s already won three times on the DP World Tour (DPWT) and claimed victory in just his second US PGA Tour event last year.
In the strongly-built left-hander, South Africa may just have another world beater in the mould of an Ernie Els or Gary Player.
Higgo also revealed, that he has started working with renowned swing coach Claude Harmon - the son of Tiger Woods’ former coach Butch Harmon.
“I’ve just started working with Claude Harmon so I’ve played a few practice rounds with Dustin Johnson. You can kind of learn from how they play the course.
“I started working with Claude in January full time. I just needed to see someone full time in the States. My coach before that, was Cliff Barnard back home in SA - we still have a great relationship and there was nothing wrong. I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to go to South Africa as much.”
"I can't wait to see my family."
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 13, 2021
South African @Garrick_Higgo is bringing home the hardware. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xERSRXc6xE
Playing for such big money could also be a hindrance for a player, and for Higgo it’s about trying to keep his ambitions firmly grounded.
“I don’t have a lot of expectations for this year. I sometimes feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself. My game is good and I’m learning a lot. It’s not easy on the PGA Tour, the courses are tough and the strength of fields are a lot higher than I’ve played in the past. Hopefully I can continue playing well, it is hard to win out here but if I play the way I know I can, I think I will.”
Ultimately, Higgo’s mindset for one of the most testing weeks of the year, is a clear one - stay out of trouble.
"It’s quite simple this week. There’s a lot of water hazards, there’s a lot of rough. Hit it straight, hit the green, make the putt.”
IOL Sport