LOS CABOS, Mexico — Garrick Higo shot an 11-under 61 on Saturday to match the course record set by Diamante’s El Cardonal and advance to the final round of the Worldwide Technology Championship with a one-stroke lead over Carson Young.
Already a winner this season, Higo chipped in for eagle on the first par-5 hole, made par on the second, and then made five consecutive birdies on the front nine to finish at 7 under par and 29. The 26-year-old left-hander from South Africa went on to add four birdies, finishing with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole for a score of 22-under 194.
“I hit it great, made a lot of good putts and even chipped in once,” Higgo said. “Everything was really solid and I took advantage of the opportunities that were available to me.”
Higgo posted the lowest score of his PGA Tour career, becoming only the sixth player to hit 61 shots on the course.
Young shot a 63 with 11 birdies and two bogeys. The 30-year-old former Clemson player is winless on the PGA Tour.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing and just focus on playing your own game and not looking too much at the leaderboard or worrying about other people,” Young said. “Last year we finished second here and missed the playoffs by one spot, so I’m really looking forward to it. It feels like we’re getting revenge here to get into the final group again. I’m looking forward to seeing if we can break through.”
Ryder Cup rookies Ben Griffin (66), Trevor Cohn (65) and Chad Ramey (67) are two strokes behind. Sami Valimaki (69) was at 19 under and second round leader Matti Schmidt (71) was at 18 under. On Thursday, Valimaki and Nick Dunlap each took 61 shots.
There are only three tournaments left this season, including this one in the southern tip of Baja California. The top 100 players in the FedEx Cup will hold all PGA Tour cards for next season, down from 125 last year. Higgo is 57th, Young 136th, Cohn 179th, Ramey 123rd, Valimaki 103rd and Schmidt 70th. Griffin has two wins this season.
Higgo won his second PGA Tour title in April when he won the Corales Punta Cana Championship in the Dominican Republic. The event took place across the street from RBC Heritage. The former UNLV player has posted three consecutive top-seven finishes. He tied for 7th in Silverado, tied for 2nd in Mississippi, and tied for 4th in Japan.
“There’s nothing particularly new about it,” Higo said. “We’re just doing a lot of the same thing.”
Luke List screwed up the par-4 15th hole with a 12 in his round of 85. It was the second-highest hole score on the PGA Tour this year, behind William Mau’s 13th hole on the par-5 16th in the second round of the American Express at the PGA West Stadium Course.
List was last at 6 over out of the 75 players participating in the weekend qualifying.
