The Road to French Lick (Ep 4): Harry Higgs goes back-to-back

We continue down the Road to French Lick for the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season at the AdventHealth Championship and Visit Knoxville Open, as Harry Higgs goes back-to-back, Frankie Capan III contends and Dennis Paulson visits French Lick.

MORE The Road to French Lick:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/i3HVE6sF_YQ
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/g-cpXXmWnR4
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/Ofli2Lwfvi4
Miles Russell interview: https://youtu.be/JQq57mg2Dfo

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Harry higs is heading back to the PGA Tour and we’re on the road to French [Music] Lick hi everyone and welcome once again to the road to French Lick I’m Ryan balie this is our show chronicling the 2024 corn fairy tour season culminating in the corn fairy TOUR Championship presented by United Leasing and finance played for the next 5 years on the Pete die course the French Lake Resort in French Lake Indiana since our last episode there have been two events on the corn fairy tour schedule the Advent Health championship in Kansas City Missouri and the visit Knoxville open in Knoxville Tennessee both tournaments were won by the same player Harry higs a PGA Tour veteran who has been playing some on the corn fairy tour this season he managed to win both events in dramatic fashion with playoff victories in each tournament at the Advent Health Championship higs found himself in a playoff with Tanner Gore after both players finished on 19 under 269 in regulation hig’s story was a dramatic one on the final hole a 620 yd par five at Blue Hills Country Club just outside of Kansas City higs H out an 83 yard approach shot for Eagle on the final hole of Regulation to ultimately find himself in the extra frame in the extra session with Gore they played the par five 18th again which higs then birdied to secure the win at a 100 $80,000 first place prize as well as 500 very important coin VAR tour points a week later in Knoxville Tennessee the week after the PGA Championship higs once again found himself in a playoff this time with Frankie Sapp in the third Mr 58 from earlier this season both players re tied again on 19 underpar this time a total of 261 and in the playoff both players went to the par 518th and both players managed to make a birdie on the first playoff hole however on the second playoff hole pigs was decisive making a winding fast 35-footer for Eagle to win the tournament for his second consecutive win on the corn FY tour earning another $180,000 and another 500 corn fairy tour points all but assuring higs an opportunity to earn one of the 30 PGA Tour cards available through the corn fairy tour standings at the end of the season through the corn fairy Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and Finance on the back of those two powerful wins for higs which reinvigorates his career let’s hear from the back-to-back Champion himself Harry Hicks yeah thrilled to get another result I I had my list of things last week I think I’ve netted out of maybe a b of accomplishing those uh was fortunate to obviously get the result and I I would have said I did an even better job this week kind of controlling the things that I wanted to do um and again I get the results so I I would have been happy if I didn’t win the playoff if I wasn’t even in the playoff um because I felt like it was another step in the right direction taking care of the things that I I need to do to bring out my best performing self so I mean it was just great it’s great to it’s great to win sure but again I was proud of all the other stuff that I did that didn’t have anything to do with the result um and then you know fortunate things break my way and I do get the result as well that just kind of hammers at home you know it feels great and then it’s also you know motivation to keep keep going for more we now take a look at the Corin fairy tour point standings with the top five in the rankings highlighted this week as we do each and every time on the road to French L with his second win of the season and his second win in a row Harry higs picked up another 500 corn fairy tour points bringing his Hall in the last two events to 1,000 points and bringing him up to second place on the season in the corn fairy tour points list number one remains timtim Ving who has 1,341 points higs is second on the list now the only other player in four figures at 1,11 points stepen Fisk continues a great season at 815 points in third place Mason Anderson is just a couple of points behind at 813 points and qu cumins on the back of some recent great play is in fifth position at 781 points this week we’re joined by former PGA Tour player and current PGA Tour analyst for SiriusXM PGA Tour and PGA Tour live Dennis Paulson he was at the Sirius XM PGA Tour radio listeners Cup on the die course at French Lake Resort in French Lake Indiana and he spoke with our Brendon Sweeney about his journey to the PGA Tour what it means to earn your card through the corn fairy tour and what the players who are going to be competing in this year’s corn fairy TOUR Championship are likely to face on the die course we’re here with Dennis Paulson at the at the Pete die course this October hosting the uh corn fairy championships Dennis what was your experience like over the past few years on a Victoria nationville than coming to French Lick and seeing this property well Story national is pretty intimidating really intimidating and I saw this place yesterday for the first time and it’s like wow not as much like water and and like visible stuff but it is very distracting Pete D is very good at doing that to a player it’s very distracting and the everything’s really wide but the fairways aren’t very so it’s like you’re you’re trying to play to Ribbons literally ribbons now I play the te’s up so I hit it in some places that I couldn’t imagine it’s you know a player trying to hit it there because they’re what 150 yards farther back than where we played uh the golf course I mean it’s right there it’s it’s straight in front of you for the most part from the way I you know would perceive the golf course to play I don’t even know where the first T is by the way on the first hole from the back te’s I think we played it 200 yard up so it’s a completely different animal but just seeing where you need to hit it here that’s very good the greens are tiny tiny man and you got to hit your targets we’re driving in this morning by the way and on 15 I uh looked over to the right cuz you kind of come up the road and the 15th hole is over there and I go what is that over the green my guy that shot would have been so much harder if I actually knew that you were absolutely dead if you hit it over the green so I learned a little bit yesterday and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for a run of golf today how do you think the players want to tackle this place that’s a great question if you’re driving it good I think you you’re going to be in attct mode there’s going to be some layups off the te’s on a few holes I think I don’t think they’re going to play it at 8100 yard so probably play it somewhere in 75 7600 yard range I would think depending upon the weather I mean should be pretty good the one thing I think is going to be a struggle for this golf course that time of the year might be the greens these greens are absolutely perfect right now they are so tight you couldn’t even puncture the green surfaces they’re really tight and I don’t think they’re going to be that way in the you know in August when we come here because it’s a lot hotter and Bentgrass has a tendency to be a little bit of a struggle so if that’s the case it might be a little easier for the guys to play into these greens so I think you got to attack off the te a little bit and you’re going to give yourself some great opportunities and you can make a few doubles you’re going to have to make five or six birdies around out here and that’s not going to be easy to do if you’re playing conservative what’s the what are the emotions like when the players receive their cards 30 guys are going to get their cards what do it mean to you and what do you what do you see these guys doing yeah I you know I got my card the first time on the PJ tour through the regular Q School right and I lost my card I kept it in ‘ 94 lost it ‘ 95 got it back in ’99 I finished I think Believe It or Not ironically I think just behind John mcginness who might have finished fifth or sixth and I finished one behind him um I think it was really special for me already being out on the PJ tour and knowing actually what I lost and it took me n years to get on the PJ tour from when I turned Pro so that was a big deal um it was the most emotional thing my brother on my golf bag and we were out at the Jack Nicholas course and I hit it in that right bunker um and I had all water to to a front right pin and he goes what are you going to do I go I’m going right at it man let’s make a birdie and he goes what that’s exactly what he said to me he goes you got your C man I said no make a birdie we got to get a better number and I hit a really good shot in there and I can’t remember if I made it or not but I took on that front right hole location and hit a good shot in there and played well on the west coast and and kind of really set my whole season up and ended up finishing in the top 30 any advice to uh the young up incomers or the or the Journeymen coming down um for me I think after I tried getting through Q school so many times and wasn’t successful doing it I had two goals no three putts no penalty shots that’s all I thought about and so I played that conservative kind of golf to get you through because you’re not trying to win you know 100 yard race it’s a marathon out there Q school and and you don’t have to win it you just got to be a part of it um I think the one thing these guys have to understand that you need a good number the one big thing that the PJ tour made a mistake of this year I think is not having enough reshuffles if you play well they got to reshuffle a little more there’s only one reshuffle in the entire season this year and I think that’s really tough for some of these guys that didn’t get off to a good start and now they’ve already had that reshuffle they play well now they’re not really going to move up you need top 10 to really get into some of these bigger events thank you for your time yeah absolutely this place is awesome also since our last show the PGA Championship happened at balala golf club in Louisville Kentucky and one of the most prominent members of this year’s coin fairy tour was competing in the tournament Tim Ving who went back toback earlier this season to all but assure himself a PGA Tour carard for next season was among the players invited by the PGA of America to compete in the second men’s major of the year at Valhalla Ving did not make the cut shooting 7073 to miss that cut line by Two Shots however it was a tremendous experience for Ving and a great opportunity to showcase the talent on the coin fairy tour congratulations to him on earning the invite and may he have a prosperous rest of the season here on the coin fairy tour Brendon Sweeney joins me he was just up at the French Lick Resort last weekend for the SiriusXM listeners cup getting a chance to check out the property just a few months ahead not too far away now from the corn fairy TOUR Championship presented by United Leasing and finance Brandon thanks for being with me how’s French Lick looking and how’s the die course looking Ryan how you doing buddy thanks for having back on uh it’s fabulous I mean it’s we’re we’re cooking on all cylinders at the resort we have uh just an awesome staff and we had the XM radio boys up last week we had Carl and Dennis Paulson who will be back at the XM uh the XM the uh the corn fairy championships presented by United Leasing and finance they’ll be on on on site with XM radio as well as Golf Channel so um yeah they had a preview of it first time Dennis has been there uh you’ll see in his little interview today uh how he did it and he just fell in love with the place and if you’ve been there uh it’s easy easy to do but the course is in fabulous shape um we’re starting to get some players show up doing little test runs on it and it’s going to be a fun test to golf what’s the reaction been from the the players who have been out there to kind of give it a little bit of a preview because we’re just I mean we’re getting to October we’re not too far away from the the crunch time when the the cards you decided yeah it’s it’s a it’s a big Ballpark and there’s no trees out there at all and you could see forever and they realize that you know you know they can hit it really far but in the Pete die course at French like you have to hit it in precise areas Pete set up the golf course you know by how far someone actually hits their drives so if you’re if you’re hitting at 310 and if you’re playing for the proper T boxes you’re fine but if they shorten up the golf course your 310 drive would be you know 20 yards through the Fairway and who knows where the hell you’re going to wind up so uh it’s going to be great um it’s going to be a great test you a couple guys came out and they were just number one shocked about how big it is yeah and what you can see but the condition and the surroundings and the town and how quaint it is and how really it’s a great magnet for golf and we’re looking forward to putting our best show on for these guys we got the corn fairy tour coming in early October we just had SiriusXM out there with their listeners cup and then not too far from now we’ve got another Dynamic group coming to uh shine a light on French L you know I’m not a young guy anymore but I was a very very fun young person at one time and I think I’m a pretty fun you know middle-aged guy now but I’m becoming like the off my yard guy and we hooked up with the good good golf guys last year uh through our relationship with Callaway golf and these guys showed up and they’re incredibly fun incredibly talented golfers and they have just crazy numbers of people fouling them yeah so come on uh uh June 18th Tuesday June 18th uh we’re hosted Midwestern open uh with the good good golf fellas and tickets are available at goodgood golf.com uh there’s a $100,000 uh purse out there G have uh between 30 and 36 golfers two man teams and women’s teams uh that are coming out to play the die course and just destroy it have fun with it and not destroy it but just you know just have a wonderful good time but you know there’s some great you know besides the the regular good good guy golf guys I mean you have you know PA panic’s coming Colt no is coming um Eric Anders Lang’s coming uh Austin Reeves Zack Radford just a name a few um so it’s going to be a well-rounded um field of of top-notch influencers and uh this I I can’t wrap my mind around the amount of people that actually watch this stuff and the amount of following the Loyalty of their fans and uh you know they released the tickets uh not too long ago and 1500 of them just went right out the door so I think they’re $20 a piece if go to goodgood golf.com if you want to come if you’re in the Midwest and just want to drive over for a day it’s great if you want to fly in fly in a Louisville Kentucky it’s about an hour and 10 minutes from the uh from the airport um check out the hotels check out the property bring your clubs um there’s a lot of golf options around there as well so yeah we’re looking forward to uh to not only the good good guys coming but the uh the uh the Golf Channel showing up it’s going to be on not Golf Channel but peacock Network um so going to be broadcasting that so we’ve been dealing with a production team we’ve had multiple Scouts up there I had the XM radio guys up and then I had the production unit um from peacock up I had to break away from from them and so just showing these guys around and everybody has the same reaction it’s like wow this place is so big and it’s so nice and it’s so cool and the people are so great um we’re looking forward to it and it’s been a long it’s been a long road of trying to get build this you know build the resort and you know build the golf brand of it and this is just a uh you know a really nice reflection of of Dave Harner and his crew at the at the courses to really show off the The Works of all their hard workor and labor Rob Co are director of uh golf at the die course he’s also the PJ of America’s uh merchandiser of the year you know this is his baby too so we’re looking forward to it Russ Apple our superintendent is is is probably scratched his head a little little bit about having 1,500 people on a golf course plus plus plus so we’ll get around it it’s GNA be fun and it’s be excitable or exciting and it’s going to be really a fun adventure just quick word about the last couple tournaments on the Corin Fury tour both won by Harry higs one of the most aable people you you’ll meet in in golf has a sizable fan base on the PGA tour and uh he he has made something very important of his career in the last couple weeks hit a hard time on the PGA tour lost his status lost at a Q School by just a a stroke or two finds himself a back-to-back winner he’s going to be on the PJ tour again next year and did both wins in in playoffs and in dramatic fashion yeah I tell you what he’s just a just a bright light in the in the world of golf I mean guys he’s got a personality that’s bigger than you know bigger than a Pete di Mansion um and we’re looking forward to having him come there so yeah I mean I just the first time that that great memory of Harry higs at Phoenix you know he takes his shirt off and he’s just going crazy instantly became a fan favorite and just seeing what he’s been doing doing over the last few weeks has made me a fan not only as a as a golf fan but as you know as a dad you know you look at a kid that that’s doing this stuff and he’s he’s a fabulous human so good for him yeah absolutely for for sure a guy that uh had to take his lumps a little bit has made something of it and uh seemingly come out stronger for it and that the corn Fair Tor isn’t just for young guys who are coming out of college just trying to speed to the PJ tour as quick as they can but for guys who have created a career for themselves and maybe fell in a a moment or a year where they just couldn’t couldn’t maintain their standard and that guy like Harry higs has gotten it back in a big way which is great yeah it was good to see a couple good Bright Lights of in the last couple weeks of some of the older guys too you know Jeff Overton he’s a guy from from from Evansville Indiana you know he’s these guys are just so good that if they pop up you know they could catch lightning like like Harry did like three weeks ago where was he now he’s he’s on the headline so yeah um but it’s good for all them and there’s going to be 70 great players that are going to be at at the at the championship and uh they’re even G to walk away with a card so it’s taking shape quickly we’ve got uh we’re now into the summer season for sure and then we hit the home stretch and before you know it we’re gonna be talking to each other in Indiana trying to figure out who’s going to get some cards yeah we got I got we have Missouri coming up we have Illinois coming up uh I’ll be at a few of these uh checking out jersey in August for the the last regular season event so we’ve got we got lots to come lots lots to chase still lots lots to be decided but uh we’re starting to get a clearer picture of things so Brendon thanks for coming on with me and I’m very excited to hear all the cool things happen at the resort in the meantime you got it thanks Ryan now as we do on each and every episode of the road to French Lake we’re going to take a look at two holes on the Pete die course at frenchlick Resort in frenchlick Indiana the host course for the corn fairy Tour Championship presented by United Leasing and finance with the top seven in the standings on the corn fairy tour points list will culminate in the finals event of the season with the top 30 players at the end of that tournament earning PGA Tour cards for next season this week we take a look at the seventh and eighth holes first the par five sth which is a daunting difficult unique par five and then the confounding Par 38 here’s will hasket with more the seventh hole is a long uphill par five and it is truly a taste of Scotland it looks so much like like one of the old Lynx holes from across the pond especially if you happen to find yourself in one of the greenside bunkers you need to avoid the bunkers off the tea as well put yourself in the Fairway it’s a narrow shoot to try and land and then you have that big question if you go for the green and two do not bail out to the right hand side the sand is ready to grab you and turn birdie into bogey before you can blink the eth pole is a spectacular view of the Pete die Clubhouse which Looms in the background of this great par three long and right are the places to avoid here with your t-shot but the large bunker left in the approach creates big issues for those forced to play from it accuracy again the premium on this golf course and it is here at this Par 3 short and left your bailout should you [Music] miss the next event on the coin fairy tour schedule is this week with the UNCC Health Championship presented by Stitch at Raleigh Country Club in Raleigh North Carolina we’ll be back with our next episode to recap that tournament and spin forward as we prepare for the third men’s major of the year the US open at Pinehurst number two in Pinehurst North Carolina thank you so much for watching our show we really appreciate it on behalf of everyone at the French Lake Resort I’m Ryan bingie we will see you next time