Golf Central breaks down Garrick Higgo’s standout Saturday at the World Wide Technology Championship, where his putting game helped fuel his ascent up the leaderboard going into Sunday’s final round. Then, Brandel Chamblee unpacks how Saturday went for Carson Young and Ben Griffin. #golf #golfcentral #golfchannel
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Garrick Higgo’s strong putting gives him World Wide Technology lead | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome Tour Golf Ball from Callaway. What a day it was for Garrick Hager who just continues some incredible form in this full portion of the PGA Tours season. That was one of several birdies he had on the day at the 14th hole. Ultimately, it was a bogey free 11 under 61 highlighted by an eagle at the very first hole and he just did not look back after that. You take a look at what he has done. tied seventh, second, and tied fourth in the last three events in the FedEx Cupful. No doubt Garrick Higgo has been knocking on the door. He did also win a little bit earlier on this season on the PGA Tour. As we welcome you into our postgame coverage, Cara Banks alongside Brandle Shambbley. Randall, when you look at what Garrick Higgo did today, what impressed you the most? Well, uh, his putting. Uh, look, he does everything pretty well. Uh, you just alluded to how well he’s played as of late. He was 50 under par in his last three events coming in here. You throw in 22 under with a round to go, 72 under. I wouldn’t surprise me if he busts 80. But really, it’s the large part of the scenario is just how good he’s putted all year long and certainly this week. Through the first seven holes today, he had seven putts. Through 13 holes, and that’s a 13th. He’d only had 16 putts. So, beautiful putt there. Hit the 15th. This is up and over a ridge with about two or three little wiggles and breaks in it. Probably one of the slower putts to there and then fast over that hill. That is a phenomenal lag at the 15th which by far played as the hardest hole on the golf course. Played really smart, really safe. Gave himself plenty of room right there up the hills. A good look at his stroke. He’s got his shoulders very level there. Rocks it. It is working for him. Just rock solid. You want to know just how good a putter he is. We just take a look at a graphic. Look down there at the bottom because he hasn’t played enough rounds to qualify. Remember, he finished 150th last year in the FedEx Cup. So, he’s not getting in all these events that he’d like to get into, but if you were to do a Mount Rushmore of the best putters right now in the world, some of these names would be on there. He would be ranked ahead of Denny McCarthy. Denny McCarthy is a putting god. And you want to get into more granularly just how good a putter Garrick Higgo is. Let’s break it down into specific distances. 10 to 15 ft, 15 to 20, 20 to 25, over 25 ft. Top five, 10 to 15 ft right there. And you look at that outside of 25 the field average or the tour average is right around 3%. The best typically is around 5%. He’s double that. So making far more than his share of putts. And you know I often look at how players finish up on Saturday night as a pretty good predictor of how they’re going to play on Sunday, especially when they’ve played good golf like Garrick did today. Well up on that leaderboard. Probably knew he was leading. Came to the 18th hole. This might have been the best swing he’s made in the last couple of days. and he’s made more than his share of good swings with the par five found the fairway. This a little hanging lie with the front pin right here. This is gorgeous. You know, it’s easy to get a little your weight just a little bit towards your toes. Tip a little bit, lose your balance, perfectly in balance, good rhythm, good flight. That’s an absolute blistered Long Island. Just creeps up. Long Island just creeps up onto the front of this green. Gave him a good two putt birdie to finish off with a 61. So, my goodness, some of the best golf all year long. Garrick Higgo the last four events. Yeah. And he’s played in some fields that have had that man named Scotty Sheffller. And you heard Ben Griffin talking about it to Kira K Dixon. He was in the field at the Pro Cour. Garrick Higgo finished top 10 then as well. He’s beginning to prove himself week after week. You’ve heard Brandle’s opinion. Let’s hear from the man himself and what he thought worked particularly well today. Hit great. Made a lot of good putts. Um chipped in ones. Um yeah, just everything was really solid and took advantage of um the opportunities that I had. You’re coming off three straight top 10s so far this fall. Um is there anything that you’ve been working on that you’ve noticed kind of been working well this week especially? Um not really anything new. No, just doing a lot of the same stuff. Um, like I said to Kira, I’m it’s nice not to be um injured. So um I’m able to practice normally and you know um I just think a lot of the stuff that I’ve been doing well this year I’m continuing to do even better. Okay. Well, he is being chased by several contenders wanting to take advantage. You see Carson Young ranked 123rd in the FedEx Cup entering this week. You need to get inside that top 100 to really cement your status for next year. That was a nice birdie for him at 11. Brand got him to 18 under. Yeah, it was indeed. Got off to a great start and kept it going on the back n birdie 10 11 12 adding another one there at the 17. So just creeping up that leaderboard. Then coming home here at the 18th pitching up the hill off this past Palum again. It’s gluey, it’s sticky. So beautiful pitch right here to finish out a 63. He would finish at 21 under power on a week when there is so much at stake. Mention keeping the momentum going in tomorrow. right now just one stroke off the lead. What’s that mindset going in for final round? Same old, same old. Um, you know, just keep doing what I’m doing and um just focus on playing my game and not looking at the leaderboard too much or worrying about others. Um, and yeah, I’m excited about it because, you know, last year I finished second here and and missed out by one on a playoff and uh, yeah, it kind of feels like a revenge here to to be in the final group again. And I’m excited to see if I can break through this time. Well, he will have an opportunity to try and break through tomorrow. And here are those numbers. The allimportant FedEx Cup ranking entering the week. Ben Griffin finished inside the top 50. So, he’s locked up into everything for next season. He doesn’t really have to worry about his ranking right now. Garrick, he goes in in a good position. But look at what Carson Young has to achieve. He’s 136th entering the week. Trevor Con 179. Chad Ramy, Sammy Valamaki, Nick Dunlap, Adam Spencson, all these guys beginning this week outside the top 100, let alone some players trying to work their way into the AON next 10 51 through 60. Still two events after tomorrow remain to wrap up the season. So, this is not uh by any means uh a done uh situation, but it just shows you what is at stake and what a lot of these competitors are playing for. Five players are at 20 under or better through three rounds of the Worldwide Technology Championship. Let’s show you how they did it. Chad Ramy’s here at 12. That’s the best part of his game in the top 50 on the PGA Tour strokes game. Put a nice one right there. and he has got a big fish on the line this week and he finished at 20 under Trevor Cones coming home at 18. Yeah, he’s found some good formula as of late. He missed 12 of his first 16 cuts on the PGA Tour. Has made six of his last seven. So, he comes in here having picked up some confidence week after week after week. He’s got a few weeks left and he needs him cuz currently he’s 178th in the FedEx Cup. But, uh nice way to finish up the day there with a good swing at 18. Yeah, it was a good looking swing. And then Bren Ben Griffin we know all about on the tea here at 60. Yeah, he’s been making good swings all year long. And this is an absolute dart. [Music] Right at it. So a lot of players playing safe there, but not Ben. And he converted. All three of those guys finished at 20 under. Let’s hear from Griffin. It’s been interesting my PJ tour career. I haven’t been in that many like second to last or third to last groups. I feel like I’ve either been like four or five or I’m like really long shot or or I’m in that final group. So, I’m actually really excited to kind of be a chaser tomorrow. Uh it’s important to have that mindset regardless of if you’re in the lead or or not, but it’s way easier if you’re actually chasing. So, um I’m excited to not probably be in that final group and um and still only be two back. I mean, I can make eagle on the first hole tomorrow and all of a sudden I’m tied for the lead. So, um I’m excited for that. I’m excited to post a number and um hopefully apply some pressure on the guys behind me or just post a low enough number to where I don’t have to worry about anything. I would say that one of the biggest differences with Ben Brandle is his confidence has changed. Yeah, it’s pretty easy to be confident when you’ve got the complete game that he does. If we just take a look back 2023, everybody’s going to say he had a breakout year this year, but if you were watching, it’s like he was quietly one of the best players in the world. Strokes game total without a weakness really in 2023 or 2024. If you want to say he did have a weakness, it was in his driving and club head speed. He picked up speed. He went from 130th last year. Strokes came off of the TE to 56. So much improved there. And everything else has stayed the same. The hard thing to do in golf is pick up speed and not suffer elsewhere in your game. And he has managed to do that. That’s a really tough thing to do. Uh but you look at that and that’s why he’s moving way up in the world ranks, way up in data golf ranks. And if you think about it, Procore uh Memorial, both of those, Scotty Sheffller beat him. He’s got two wins. Looked like he’s going for third tomorrow. He could be going for his fifth, but Scotty Sheffller doesn’t leave a whole lot of food on the table. I love what he said, Scotty, please stay at home. Feel free to stay at home as much. Levino used to send roses to Jack Nicholas every week. He would stay home uh during the Champion store. Just keep him at home. Have fun, Barbara. And he’d send him send her a dozen roses.
