Garrick Higgo is walking in Gary Player’s footsteps at the Olympics

'He calls me a lot. We chat. He's helped me with my game,' Higgo said. 'He's been a big part of why I've … won a lot and the mental aspect of the game.'

One of the most impactful letters came early in their relationship, after Higgo lost his father in a car accident. Higgo was just 9 years old. Player, who lost his mother to cancer at a similar age, offered empathy and encouragement.

Higgo lived in Plettenberg Bay, where Player had a vacation home. They would play nine-hole rounds in the afternoon when Player was there on holiday. Player describes his protégé as 'humble, keen to learn and a good listener.'

Higgo was South Africa's top-ranked amateur by age 17. In the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur, he beat Cole Hammer, who later became the world's top-ranked amateur, in the Round of 16 before falling to Matthew Wolff on the 17th hole of their semifinal match. Higgo played for the International Team in that year's Junior Presidents Cup (and is a strong candidate to play in the big-boy version just five years later). He started at UNLV, one of collegiate golf's powerhouse programs, a few weeks later.

Higgo only spent a year in Las Vegas before deciding to return home. He turned pro in 2019 despite sitting outside the top 100 in the world amateur ranking.

'A lot of people didn't think I should even turn professional,' Higgo said. 'I wasn't even winning amateur events, so they questioned why I was turning pro.'

He won his first start on South Africa's developmental circuit, the Big Easy Tour, and added another victory in his next start on South Africa's main tour, the Sunshine Tour. Last year, he won the Sunshine Tour's Tour Championship and the Portugese Open, which earned him European Tour status.

Higgo overcame a six-shot deficit in the final round at Congaree to win his first PGA TOUR title. Player called him that Sunday with some more important advice.

'He told me he's done it before quite a few times, the way he's won from six behind, seven behind,' Higgo said. 'He just said don't think too much about what the other guys are doing, just kind of do your thing and stay up there, and you never know what could happen.'

Higgo's Sunday 68 included a bogey-free back nine that was highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 12th. He was on the driving range, preparing for a possible playoff, as the final group of Chesson Hadley and Harris English struggled on Congaree's back nine, shooting 38 and 40, respectively.

'I'm a very tough competitor,' Higgo said. 'I don't really get down on myself. It's a cliché, but I try and stay in the fight.'

It's a trait he shares with Player, who also turned pro as a teenager despite others' doubts. Player won the 1956 South African Open, the Dunlop tournament in England and the richest prize in Australian golf at the Ampol. Just four years earlier, he was playing to a 24 handicap. One newspaper described his meteoric rise as 'one of the most amazing success stories in golf.' Player recounted how his countrymen laughed at his unorthodox grip and flat swing. 'You will never be a good golfer,' Player recalled some saying to him.

'That is why I had to succeed,' Player said after winning the Ampol. 'Those people did not know the hours and hours I spent working out how to eliminate errors in my game.'

Player headed to the United States the following year to test himself at the highest level. Seeing how far the game's top players hit the ball caused Player to intensify his now-famous exercise regimen, weaken his grip and learn how to carry the ball farther.

'I'd read about Ben Hogan and Sam Snead and other players of that time. I admired the United States so much and wanted to go there and try to beat the best,' Player recently told PGATOUR.COM.

Like Player, Higgo plans to play a global schedule. His wins around the world make it easier for him to pick where and when he plays. He was the first player since 1988 to win on the PGA TOUR in one of his first two career starts. He's the only player since 1990 to win at least three times in his first 26 starts on the European Tour.

This week, he'll be walking in the footsteps of his mentor at the world's grandest sporting event, the Olympic Games.

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