PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2021

Harry Higgs

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

Quick Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Joined by Mr. Harry Higgs, who closed out his championship with a 2-under par-70, finishing the championship at 2-under par, currently at this moment T5.

A really clean scorecard, Harry, no blemishes, two early birdies and then you rode it out in some tough conditions with the wind, a reverse wind than what we've seen. Are you happy with what happened and your week at hand.

HARRY HIGGS: Yeah, oh, absolutely. For challenging conditions and a brutally difficult golf course and the first major championship to, I would assume, finish in the top 10, no, I did well today. I kind of proved to myself that if I can get into more of these, I have a good chance to win them. It probably won't be every chance you get, but I kind of enjoyed that this is truly a major, right. Like there's just more going on, it just seemed to focus me in, and I need to do a better job at -- I don't want to call them regular Tour events but Tour events we play throughout the year. Need to really lock in and focus, and my play definitely improved.

Q. Do you ever say as you walk towards your tee shot, remember, this is a major? Does that enter your mind?

HARRY HIGGS: It's hard to do that here because it's so difficult. If you take a break, you're going to make a 6 quick. I mean, I think, again, I was in a good frame of mind. My skills were very good this week just top to bottom. So that made it easy. I wasn't really worried about missing here, missing there.

No, you can't really take any shots off. You can't really wander. It's a lot of head down and walk and hit and head down and walk and hit. You don't even look up at people, you just kind of keep walking, fairway, green, try to get the speed right. Hopefully it falls in the hole. I just did a good job of that all week.

Q. After the conversation we had the other day, what were the dynamics with your brother today? Does he owe you a lot of money for playing well today?

HARRY HIGGS: Well, I owe him money because I pay him, he doesn't pay me. No, but we had much the same on 17 again. I hit a pretty good shot into the left bunker, which sure, I'll take it there every day of the week, and I'm just walking in the bunker, and he said, "Hole it for a hundred," and I said, "Game on." I thought I must have got a little bit more of a wind gust off to the left because I thought I hooped that thing.

No, he did a good job. When my balls would trickle into the rough, It's okay, man, we can make birdie from there. The back nine, it was a big-time scramble. Was just off here and there, tee shots rolling through into the rough, so then we have to calm the big man down; it's okay, we're just going to put it into a spot where we can get it up-and-down.

I did it the entire back nine, hit a couple really good short game shots close and hit a lot of them four to six feet, and fortunately was able to get clear on the read and trust, even though you're kind of a little shaky, trust that I'm going to start the golf ball on line and it's going to go in the hole.

Q. I would imagine you haven't done the math or processed this, but your position, your finish here puts you in the PGA Championship in 2022.

HARRY HIGGS: Yeah.

Q. You're close to being in the Masters in 2022.

HARRY HIGGS: Yeah, I think it's top four, isn't it? You don't really want to root for people to make bogeys, but I'm going to be rooting for people to make bogeys.

Yeah, I think it would get me into all the other majors. I really wanted to get a birdie. I missed a six-or-so-footer on 16 and just misread it or -- I don't know, stuff happens. Gosh, I thought my drive on 18 was in the fairway and that's the one to get if you can drive that ball in the fairway, and it just ran through, and then the putt just kind of burned the edge. It was a little firm. If that thing hits the flag, though, I would assume I would for sure be in Augusta. I don't wish any ill will on anybody, but I would love to finish fourth for sure.

Q. What's something specific you learned about yourself here at your first major that you can stuff in your back pocket, take to Torrey and beyond?

HARRY HIGGS: Yeah, when I get focused at the task at hand and I say that way, I can perform at this level. Even though these golf shots are treacherous and they look brutal, the clearer that I am, the more focused that I am, I can pull these things off, and then just simply that I can win these things. This is the first one I've played and I'm not into any others -- well, this one next year is the only one I'm guaranteed to play moving forward. Whether or not I have to qualify for Torrey or not, we'll see.

But no, my coach and my brother and I have after we finished yesterday, I was just off and made some bogeys, as you can do out here, but battled back, shot 1-over and still was around top 10, probably out of it in terms of winning the golf tournament, but as frustrated as we were, we did say, dude, it's pretty cool, like this is the first one, and we can win these things.

I think it would be sweet to win my first win out here just be a major. I think that would be really cool. He might get me to retire after that, but no, I'll take that into the next few weeks. I'm going to be tired as all get-out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Fortunately for me I get to stay at home next week, playing Colonial. But I need to stay sharp and stay focused and get into the mix more often.

JOHN DEVER: Have a terrific summer.