Higgs said Friday was the product of him continuing to “spiral upward,” a turn-of-phrase he’s taken to using to describe how he makes decisions. It’s easy, he said, to spiral down. But one good thing can lead to another, and good golf will follow. Friday at Mayakoba was a perfect example.
“My golf swing still doesn’t feel as I want it to feel and I don’t know that it’s going to but clearly that doesn’t really matter,” said Higgs. “If I can continue tomorrow (to) spiral upwards and feel more and more comfortable and more and more certain in what I’m doing, then I love my chances, right?
“But I also have to be careful when I hit a poor shot or make a bad decision not to react as poorly as I have been because that spirals me straight down. … Then it’s just an uphill battle. 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… confidence, right?”
Higgs’ 62 tied his career-low effort on the PGA TOUR (he also shot a 62 in the second round of the Fortinet Championship in 2020) and said it was the most fun he had playing on TOUR since he had a chance to win the PGA Championship last year. His final hole Friday, which featured the 7-iron approach from a fairway bunker to 18 inches, was a perfect example of that.
“My brother and I were just standing there like… this was really fun,” said Higgs, whose brother Alex is his caddie. “He said he saw something different in me today. He said he’s kind of unlocked it, right? So, I’m going to go sit and have lunch and hear what he has to say about it.
“Coach, girlfriend, everybody’s got a hand in like dealing with this. Mom, dad, we all have teams. I hate everybody saying the team, but it is certainly a team effort. So, there will be some phone calls and conversations about how we continue to do this.”
The funny thing is, Higgs said, getting to 9-under for his round was just a bonus. The process was important. The feelings were important. The joy golf brought him on this day was very much there. Now he just wants to keep it going.
“It was nice to have some certainty about where the ball was going to go, what I wanted to do, and I was making what I wanted to do happen. If I had shot 4-under par today, I still would have felt great,” said Higgs. “Now I’m going to get away from all this, rest and relax, and think about how the last two days have gone and just focus on a thing or two that is not my golf swing, not what club to hit here, but about how to continue to spiral upwards and give myself the best chance heading into the weekend.”
