PGA Tour rookie Harry Higgs to be honored by Blue Valley North High School
Harry Higgs has had a lot of success in his first season as a pro golfer on the PGA Tour, but he is set to enjoy a break this weekend and return to his high school for a special event.
Higgs will be inducted into Blue Valley North’s Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night. He was a member of the school’s golf team before graduating in 2010.
“It’s nice to be honored like that, especially at a place that means so much to me,” Higgs said. “Coming back home in front of family and friends, it will be cool to have that moment. I am more excited to see a great basketball team play.”
Higgs said he enjoys going to basketball games since he had friends who helped develop into a consistently good program. This year’s boys team takes a 15-3 record into a game against Mill Valley on Friday night.
And while he will enjoy being back for Friday’s ceremony, the break will be brief. Higgs will return to Florida on Saturday to start preparing for his next tournament, the Honda Classic, starting Thursday in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Higgs said he hasn’t played as well as he believes he can in recent weeks, but he has six top-25 finishes in 13 tournaments during his rookie season on the PGA Tour.
“It’s certainly been very good,” Higgs said. “It’s certainly a nice start to the year to get some good results and back up the way that I feel about my game. I feel that I belong out here.
“Obviously feel versus what actually is happening sometimes can be different. To get some good results early on and beat some of the top players makes you feel like you belong for sure.”
Higgs’ best finish so far was second place at the Bermuda Championship in November, when he had the lead entering the final round but finished behind Brendon Todd, who closed with a 62.
Higgs shrugged that off and had another chance to win last month at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California, against a strong field that included Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Higgs said he struggled to get good yardages for approach shots and get in position to attack the pins on the back nine in the final round, and he finished in a tie for ninth place.
“I certainly feel like a win is coming,” Higgs said. “Feeling that versus actually being able to do it obviously can be different. But I like my chances with how everything has progressed and having a chance to be in the mix a few times. The only way to win is to get in contention as much as possible, and that’s going to be my goal from now until the end of the year.”
Higgs said driving the ball well and approach shots typically are a strength of his game, but in the past five or six tournaments he admits those areas of his game have been “pretty poor.”
He ranks 50th in driving accuracy, 74th in driving distance and 63rd in greens in regulation among more than 230 PGA Tour players this season, but he has overcome that well enough to rank 25th in scoring average.
“It’s kind of nice that I am not playing up to what I would normally say is what I do,” Higgs said. “It is nice to have good finishes and to get in the mix even when you don’t feel that everything is there.”
Higgs said his goals for the rest of the season have not changed since the season started last fall. He is aiming for two victories and rookie of the year honors.
“It’s been a natural progression over the last 2 1/2 years or so,” he said. “I am sticking to the things I am doing and seeing that it works at the highest level. It’s nice to see that.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 1:29 PM.