Garrick Higgo: “I’d Love To Kick Some American Ass!”

The 21-year-old South African has his eyes set on making Trevor Immelman's Presidents Cup side

Garrick Higgo
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The 21-year-old South African has his eyes set on making Trevor Immelman's Presidents Cup side

Garrick Higgo: “I’d Love To Kick Some American Ass!”

Two-time European Tour winner Garrick Higgo has his sights set on representing the International Team in the 2022 Presidents Cup.

Garrick Higgo secured a record-breaking European Tour victory in the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open last week to jump up to 65 in the world rankings, and the South African is keen to be on the International Team in the next Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow in September 2022.

“I’d love to kick some American ass,” Higgo said on the Filthy Lipout golf podcast.

“You know, growing up the Presidents Cup wasn’t that big a deal for me, just because it’s not a country, it was maybe not as easy to get into in a way.

"But because I played in the Junior Presidents Cup (in 2017), now it’s a big deal for me to make it into the main one. I think that would be unreal. It would be a nice story.”

Trevor Immelman will be captaining the International side next year, and he’s already well aware of Higgo’s talent and development.

“He was my Captain in the Junior Presidents Cup,” said the 21-year-old.

“I want to make the team, I’ll do it, I want to make the team.”

He went on to say he might have a meal with the 2008 Masters champion when he makes his major debut in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island on May 20th-23rd. “I’ll make him pay for the burger, though,” Higgo joked.

Higgo also revealed that Immelman isn’t the only major champion who’s had an influence on his career. He received a WhatsApp message from Gary Player the night before the final round in Gran Canaria.

“He said you need to think as if you never have a lead and play like you’re two behind. It’s the first time I’ve had a lead, so I did actually think of that quite a lot throughout the day.”

He added: “Just the rounds we’ve played together, you can see he’s been through a lot of things, and he doesn’t really have a lot of things going for him. He’s short, he’s not The Rock, he’s not that strong – even though he works out a lot.

"But he doesn’t care, he’s won over 150 times worldwide, so just the determination. It’s all the little things he says when we play, I learn a lot from those moments. It inspires me a lot.”

Higgo spoke about a number of other topics on Filthy Lipout, including breaking the European Tour aggregate scoring record, using a 48-inch driver, his major aspirations and how important European Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned events are for South African golf.

Listen to the full Filthy Lipout episode with Garrick Higgo at:

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Kit Alexander

Kit Alexander is a golf broadcaster and journalist who commentates and presents for the DP World Tour, PGA EuroPro Tour and Rose Ladies Series. He has over 15 years’ experience of magazine and television work in the golf industry and is a regular contributor to Golf Monthly.