Garrick Higgo watches his tee shot on the 13th hole during the third round of the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale The two SA players have had contrasting seasons to date, as Erik van Rooyen is ranked 65th in the world while Garrick Higgo (pictured) has dropped to 204th. Picture: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images via AFP
South Africans Garrick Higgo and Erik van Rooyen will be looking for a couple of top finishes for different reasons at the Canadian Open, PGA Tour event, starting on Thursday.
The two SA players have had contrasting seasons to date, as Van Rooyen is ranked 65th in the world while Higgo has dropped to 204th. While Van Rooyen has improved his world ranking 22 spots this year, Higgo has slipped 27 positions.
Van Rooyen finished in a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic at the beginning of March, while Higgo’s best finish also came in the same event as he ended in a share of 16th.
The 34-year-old Van Rooyen also finished as the top South African at The Masters at Augusta in April when he settled for 55th place.
Golf shot from the dirt 👏
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 25, 2024
Garrick Higgo made this look easy. pic.twitter.com/z3nyZjYT2U
Stop the slide
The former world number 38 Higgo, has also missed four cuts in a row. The 25-year-old left-hander will be hoping to find something this week to arrest his slide in the rankings.
Higgo had a phenomenal start to his career since turning professional in 2019. He won three times on the DP World Tour (DPWT) and claimed victory in just his second US PGA Tour event three years ago. He has also won twice on the Sunshine Tour.
In fact, in 2021, Higgo won his second DPWT event in April, his third in May and followed that with his first PGA Tour win in June. That meant he had tasted victory in three successive months as he made the most of an incredible hot streak with that period in his career, which was aptly dubbed ‘The summer of Garrick’.