Garrick Higgo: ‘Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt 3’

May 7, 2021 | Featured, South Africans abroad

Garrick Higgo just can’t put a foot wrong right now, and he took advantage of this purple patch to blaze to an eight-under 63 on Friday in the second round of the European Tour’s Canary Islands Championship at Golf Costa Adeje in Tenerife.

After winning the first tournament of the three week stretch on the Spanish islands, and finishing eighth last week in the second behind compatriot Dean Burmester, he carded his ninth round in the 60s out of 10 played on the stretch to ease into second place ahead of the weekend. He was 13-under after the second round, one behind Spaniard Adri Arnaus, who carded a second-successive 64.

Higgo was flawless through his round, opening with a birdie on the first, and adding another early on in the round on the fourth. It was an uneventful journey for the rest of the front nine as he turned in two-under, but then he started scoring freely. He birdied the 10th immediately after the turn, and added three more on 13, 15 and 17.

Then he made eagle on 18 just to emphasise how well he is playing. “It’s the first time I’ve hit the 18th fairway and I’ve played this course about ten times now, so that was nice,” Higgo said. “The approach was just as good, putt was good. It broke a lot; I feel like these greens are breaking more and more as they are getting faster. It was nice to roll it in.”

The speed of the greens is not something that is bothering Higgo ahead of the weekend. “I like them that way,” he said. “I like to die my putts into the hole, so this works well for me. They haven’t got out of hand, but they are definitely getting quicker all the time.”

Burmester also made an eagle in a second-round 63 of his own, and he was bogey-free too as he played himself inside the top 10 to set himself up for a run at what would be an incredible second title in two weeks.

One shot behind Burmester, at nine-under, was Zander Lombard who made five birdies and a bogey on his way to a 67 and a share of 14th. Also on nine-under after rounds of 68 were Louis de Jager and Justin Harding, while Justin Walters was on six-under in a share of 46th. Haydn Porteous carded a one-under 70 to miss the cut at three-under.

Behind Arnaus and Higgo, the Scottish trio of Calum Hill, Richie Ramsay and Connor Syme were at 12-under alongside Italian Francesco Laporta.

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