RIDGELAND, S.C. – There’s another lefty to deal with on the PGA Tour.
Three weeks after World Golf Hall of Fame member Phil Mickelson stunned the golf world with his win in the PGA Championship, young southpaw Garrick Higgo won the Palmetto Championship at Congaree in just his second start on the PGA Tour.
The 22-year-old South African, a winner three times on the European Tour including this year’s Gran Canaria Lopesan Open in April and the Canary Islands Championship in May, closed with a 3-under-par 68 and took advantage of Chesson Hadley’s late collapse to win.
“It’s amazing,” Higgo said. “I just stayed patient all week. I’m just happy I didn’t have to play in a playoff.”
Higgo, who earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, eagled the 12th and birdied the 14th while others on the leaderboard fell back on the back nine, no one more so than Hadley, who had missed the cut in his last four starts and in nine of his last 11.
Hadley, who started the final round with a four-shot lead, was visibly uncomfortable as he made bogey on the second and third holes. But he looked steady on the back nine and led by two shots heading to the 16th tee. He bogey 16 after a poor drive, 17 after a poor approach and 18 after another poor approach.
Higgo shot 68-69-68-68 to finish at 11 under. Higgo started six shots back and his comeback in the final round is the largest this season on the PGA Tour; Brooks Koepka came from five back to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Hadley shot 75 to finish in a six-way tie for second.
Bo Van Pelt, who thought his career was over after tearing his labrum in his right shoulder in 2016 and then having two more procedures to remove bones spurs in his AC joint in the shoulder and one rib, grabbed a share of the lead with an eagle on the 13th before falling back into a tie for second. He shot 68 to finish at 10 under. It was his first top-5 since 2015.
Joining Hadley and Van Pelt in second were Doc Redman (67), Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Hudson Swafford (66), who would have earned a spot in the U.S. Open with a win.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson was tied for the lead two holes into the third round and then got within one shot of the lead on the back nine of the final round before falling back with a triple-bogey 7 on the 16th.