Harry Higgs, often called Big Rig due to his frame, was born in New Jersey and grew up in Overland Park, Kansas. His father had introduced him and his younger brother Alex to the game of golf early. As Higgs recalls in his interview with Golf Digest, he said they would mimic their dad hitting balls in the backyard and draw a golf course on the paper tablecloth at restaurants. Their parents noticed how obsessed both boys became and got them junior sets.

“It was competitive between my brother and me almost immediately. We pushed each other and tried our best to beat each other,” he said

Playing golf and beating his brother was a part of his schedule. Higgs attended Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park and did not have a formal golf lesson until his freshman year. He preferred working on his game alone, often spending 10 hours a day on the course.

He later earned a scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he played from 2011 to 2014. His teammates included Bryson DeChambeau and Kelly Kraft. His brother also attended SMU, and their college careers overlapped for a year. Higgs turned professional in 2014 and has called Dallas his home ever since.

Harry Higgs’s Career 

His path, however, was not a straight line. After graduating, Higgs spent time grinding on the PGA Tour Latin America. He played on the circuit between 2015 and 2018 and returned in 2018. Between those two stints, 2017 was his lowest point. He shares that he did not have status anywhere and was back to playing mini-tours, asking sponsors for money, but he was refused repeatedly.

“I remember getting dressed up and having a business plan for my first meeting and being told, ‘I don’t do charity.'” I must have had 60 people in my first year. I printed the “no emails” and hung them in my room as motivation,” he shared

At a Q School qualifier in St. George, Utah, in 2017, he was one or two strokes inside the number heading into the range. He shares that that was the most critical stage of his Q School, as he shot a 63 that day, and that is what has kept his career alive. He returned to the PGA Tour Latin America in 2018 with a newfound motivation and changed everything.

Higgs made 11 out of 18 starts and won the Diners Club Peru Open by two strokes at 19-under. That won him the Order of the Merit title, earning his Korn Ferry Tour card in 2019. From there, he started his streak of wins. On the Korn Ferry Tour, he won the 2019 Price Cutter Charity Championship, earning his PGA Tour card for the 2019–20 season.

His rookie year was a promise, but the defining moment of his PGA Tour career came in the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Higgs shot a bogey-free final round and finished tied for fourth. That remains his best result in a major to date. That earned him a spot at the 2022 Masters, where he went to finish tied for 14th. After that, things have gotten harder for him, as he lost his PGA Tour card heading into 2023.

But again, he pushed his way through. In May 2024, he won the Edmond Hell Championship in a fourth playoff in Kansas City. The following week in Knoxville, he won the Visit Knoxville Open in a playoff with an eagle on the second hole. Those two wins punched his ticket back to the PGA Tour for the 2025 season.

Harry Higgs’s Personal Life  

Off the course, Higgs is easy to understand. He talks to everyone and stays in rather than going out, and his teammates share that if he’s ever late, he’s mostly talking to people in the parking lot.

Not much is known about his private life, but he married his longtime friend Kailee Kuehn in May 2024. This is just two weeks before his eagle at the Advent Health Championship. Kailee is a former college golfer who played at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

He was diagnosed with skin cancer. He often discussed using sun protection seriously.

“It was not a threat to my health, but it had to be cut off the side of my head,” he said on the No Laying Up podcast. “Especially as golfers, we are in the sun all the time.”

Over the years, Higgs has repeatedly found a way back despite the setbacks. Following his victory at the Knoxville Open in 2024, he shared a message that perhaps explains why he remains such a popular figure in the game: “Say something nice to somebody you don’t even know.”