Harry Higgs making most of unexpected opportunity at U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Harry Higgs isn’t supposed to be here.

Not on the national stage, not in front of these bright lights. Not with his name plastered on a leaderboard heading into the weekend at the U.S. Open.

Around his name are decorated players – major champions like Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas. Higgs finds himself among their company after rounds of 71-68, in red figures at the halfway point after entering as one of the last players in the field.

Let’s start with the logistical hurdles that the 34-year-old overcame. He played on the Korn Ferry Tour last week, finishing T14 at the Occunet Classic in Texas. As a U.S. Open alternate from the North Carolina qualifier, Higgs’ spot in the 156-man field at Shinnecock wasn’t yet assured – but he had a “pretty good idea” that he would be heading west.

“There’s a guy on Twitter that gave me all the scenarios,” Higgs explained. “So I knew exactly who I was rooting against pretty much all of Canada (RBC Canadian Open).”

Bud Cauley's win at TPC Toronto meant that there would be enough extra spots in the final field to include Higgs, so he booked it to the Amarillo airport. There were travel delays, a cancelled flight, an overnight hotel stay and a detour for baby formula once he got to New York to keep things well stocked for his eight-month-old son, but he was officially here.

The next obstacle came Thursday morning, as Higgs arrived on-site well before dawn for his opening-round tee time. He was in the very first group of the day, teeing off at 6:35 a.m. ET, and quickly realized he had a problem: He was wearing shorts.

While PGA TOUR pros are allowed to wear shorts during practice rounds, it’s pants-only once competition begins. Higgs woke up at 3:30 a.m. and, reaching into his suitcase still unpacked in the living room of his rental house given his 11th-hour arrival, simply picked from the wrong pile of clothes.

“One of the Darrell Survey guys gave me his pants, which, had I worn for – I was here 10 hours yesterday – I would have 100% ripped them,” Higgs said. “They fit, but not that great. It would have been real funny trying to get a ball out of the hole and teeing it up.”

The borrowed pants worked in a pinch as he warmed up, but after a quick call to his wife, he was once again in his own pants by the time he headed to the first tee. “She grabbed me two just in case, trying to make me look good,” he said. Another problem solved.

But the biggest blocker to Higgs having his moment in the sun this week came from within.

While he has not won on TOUR, the veteran has experienced some high moments: a T4 finish at the 2021 PGA Championship, which came in his first-ever major start and earned him a trip to the 2022 Masters, stands out. But he has spent subsequent years bouncing between the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour, shuffling through status options, and recently the self-doubt and tendency to “berate” himself on the course took their toll.

Higgs found himself near a breaking point at, of all places, his 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier. He got off to a rocky start, missing a few short putts, and made a bogey on his sixth hole of the day. Walking off the green, he took out his phone and booked a flight home to Kansas City, seriously contemplating quitting the game and uncertain of his future.

“We were playing just outside Charlotte, and I was like, I’m just going to go home. I’m going to walk off after the ninth hole,” he said. “I don’t even know if I’m going to go to Amarillo and play the Korn Ferry (event), and I don’t know that I’m going to keep doing this.”

But something clicked for Higgs before he headed for the parking lot. A few birdies fell, and he did enough over the balance of the qualifier to earn an alternate berth that, on Monday, turned into a full-fledged spot in the field.

The negative thoughts, which Higgs described as “allowing myself to feel, in a way, insignificant,” began to vanish. He went to Amarillo after all, and last week’s top-15 finish was his best result in 15 starts on either circuit this year.

On one of the biggest stages, facing a course that can tear players apart with only the smallest wobble, Higgs has let go of the negativity through 36 holes. He has found a willingness to accept the poor swings and the bad breaks, even employing what he admits to be a false sense of bravado to channel his psyche in a productive direction.

“I was going to walk around like I owned this place,” Higgs said. “And, boy, do I not.”

He’s done enough to fool the golf gods – or maybe himself – through two rounds. Higgs opened with a 1-over 71 but came out hot Friday afternoon, with three birdies over his first six holes. When he holed an improbable birdie on the par-3 11th – knocking one in from 75 feet after later admitting that he missed his intended line by a full 15 feet – he briefly shared second place at 3-under.

Although he dropped a couple shots from there, he’ll head into the third round inside the top 10 and six shots behind leader Wyndham Clark. While some players around him will focus their third-round prep for the nuance of the Shinnecock Hills layout or the wind forecast, Higgs’ prep will look inward as he focuses on processes and results that are within his control.

“Make the choice to be simply, just confident, and believe in yourself no matter what happens,” Higgs said. “I need to do that in every aspect, every golf tournament. I don’t know why it came. Maybe this is just so hard that I could shrug off all the bad things that happened to me a little easier.

“But man, for the first time in a while, I thought that like, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’”

Higgs isn’t supposed to be here. But he’s here now and plans to make the most of his newfound opportunity this weekend.