Garrick Higgo of South Africa was the surprise winner of the Corales Puntacana Championship when Joel Dahmen squandered a late lead on Sunday in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Dahmen led after each of the first three rounds and held a one-shot edge over Higgo with three holes to play. Dahmen proceeded to bogey each of his remaining holes — including a 1-foot par putt that lipped out at the par-3 17th hole.
Higgo, who bogeyed Nos. 13 and 17 playing in the group ahead of Dahmen, parred his last hole to shoot an even-par 72 and get in the clubhouse at 14-under 274. Dahmen needed to make par at the 18th to force a playoff, but he missed his 8-foot par putt.
Michael Thorbjornsen also had a chance to forge a playoff, but he missed a 4-foot par putt on the final hole. Dahmen (76) and Thorbjornsen (73) shared second place with Alejandro Tosti of Argentina (68), Keith Mitchell (71) and Jeremy Paul of Germany (72) at 13 under.
Higgo’s second career win on the PGA Tour earned a $720,000 check, but also granted him a two-year exemption. The latter was a motivational factor for Higgo, who lost his Tour card at the end of 2024. As a limited Tour member in 2025, Puntacana marked just his third start of this season.
“I’d say it’s definitely a bit of a relief,” Higgo said, “but I’ve truly enjoyed the journey of — obviously it was definitely hard to take finishing 135 on the FedEx (Cup standings) last year, but like this is unbelievable and this is why I play the game. You know, the journey, like I’m going to go through a down again, everybody does, I’m going to have ups. I just truly enjoy the journey.”
Higgo, 25, became the youngest winner in tournament history.
“I’ve changed my swing completely and obviously I’ve had to deal with some injuries,” Higgo said. “You know, it’s been a lot of good things. I played well in Savannah a couple weeks ago, played good at Torrey (Pines) in the wind. Like I’ve steadily kept improving.”
Dahmen, meanwhile, was highly critical of his performance.
“I think I’m in a little bit of shock, honestly,” Dahmen said. “It’s not how you win a golf tournament, I’ll tell you that. I don’t deserve to win it. You know, bogeying the last three is inexcusable. Middle of the fairway with an 8-iron on 16 to hit it where I hit it, you can’t get up and down over there.
“I don’t know what happened on the short one on 17. I mean I’m obviously nervous, but unfortunately I’m prone to that at times. You can call it lapse in concentration. It’s not like a yippee thing, it’s not like one of those things, but bad time to do it.
“And then 18’s just a really hard hole. We had 220 (yards to the) pin and wind surfed on it and hit a very average chip. I hit a good putt. I actually thought it was a straight putt and broke a little left on me. All of a sudden I wake up and I lost the golf tournament.”
Dahmen fired a first-round 62 and stood 16 under par through two rounds, which set the tournament’s 36-hole scoring record. He also had previously won this tournament in 2021, his only PGA Tour win to date.
“This one could take a while to get over,” Dahmen said. “It’s one of those things, you learn more in defeat unfortunately. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”
–Field Level Media
