Imagine having a hip injury so bad that it hurt when you walked, fighting a brutal battle with your body where surgery felt inevitable. Now, fast forward to a few months, and you’re suddenly leading a $6M PGA Tour event. This is the story of South African Garrick Higgo, smiling through a 13-under after 36 holes at the 2025 Sanderson Farms Championship, like none of that ever happened.

Being atop the leaderboard at the Country Club of Jackson didn’t come easy for Higgo. After winning the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship, a week after the 2025 Masters in an alternate-field event in the Dominican Republic, he suffered a labrum injury that all but wrecked the rest of the season. At the Sanderson Farms Championship, media asked Higgo if surgery was ever an option. His answer: honest and resilient.

“It wasn’t obvious,” he stated. “It wasn’t hurting me in my swing, but walking made it really bad, and then it would pinch the next day. So just figuring out how I can avoid that. I’ve changed the way I work out, just being a bit more clever with that, I would say,” he told the media. Higgo had to completely overhaul his swin. That wasn’t easy.

“We started the week of Colonial in 2023. It wasn’t fun. I obviously played terribly last year. If you look at how I used to swing it till now, it’s completely different. That whole time frame it’s tough to play competitively. It’s tough to play—compete when you’re on your best, never mind when you’re changing things,” he shared. And not just his swing, Higgo made a conscious effort to switch things up in the gym too.

His workout now was smarter, lighter, and more targeted, focusing on “single-leg stuff.” They were specific to protecting the joint while still maintaining strength. Even though Higgo boasted that he can lift “pretty heavy,” all that heavy lifting has taken a backseat for now. Instead, it’s about training smarter, not harder. The shift in routine has made a real difference, too.

“Like 1 out of 10 at the moment,” he said, speaking of whether he still suffers from any pain, adding, “just tired. It gets fatigued pretty quickly.”

Higgo had to withdraw from the Barracuda Championship in July 2025. The reason was his hip. It is now good to see him doing better. He poured in late birdies on Friday in Jackson, including a near hole-out from the bunker on the short par-4 15th, carding 4-under in his back-nine. He ended Friday with a 6-under 66.

It’s a strong position to be in, especially at an event where, for most of the field, every round is about far more than just chasing the trophy.

While Garrick Higgo is safe, other PGA Tour golfers are grinding for status

While most players in the PGA Tour’s fall series are sweating every shot, grinding for points and praying to stay inside the top 100 of the FedExCup standings, Garrick Higgo is playing with a rare luxury — a secured status. His win at the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship already locked up his PGA Tour card through 2026, and Garrick Higgo isn’t chasing FedEx Cup points like so many others in the fall season.

The PGA Tour’s Fall Series, which includes this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, is a crucial stretch for players fighting to secure their status for 2026. There are seven events in total, and new rules have tightened the field — only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the Fall will earn full PGA Tour cards next season, down from 125 in previous years.

Players who are ranked between 101-125 will have conditional status, making every stroke in every event crucial. Each round in these events isn’t just about trophies or paychecks—it’s a battle for points that could make or break a player’s future. And with that pressure, missing cuts can be costly.

But while Garrick Higgo is not chasing status like many of his peers at the Sanderson Farms Championship, that doesn’t make this stretch meaningless. For him, the fall season isn’t about survival. It’s about momentum, confidence, and proving his rebuilt swing and reworked body can hold up under pressure. While others are playing for a future on Tour, Higgo’s playing to show that his comeback is personal and far from finished.