South Africa’s Garrick Higgo followed up his 7-under-par 65 on Thursday with a 66 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead (-13) into the weekend of the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss.
Taylor Montgomery carded the low round of the tournament, a 9-under-par 63, and was knotted with Eric Cole at 12 under, one stroke behind Higgo.
Danny Walker, who started the day tied with Higgo and Cole for the lead, is two shots behind after carding a 4-under 68.
Higgo, 26, birdied four of the final seven holes at the Country Club of Jackson layout. The former UNLV standout earned his second PGA Tour victory earlier this year in mid-April at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic.
For Higgo, the key was keeping the ball out of the thick Bermuda rough.
“I don’t know what worked the best, but my tee shots were similar to yesterday, like I kept it in play,” he said. “For me, whenever I think — obviously for everybody else as well, like the more fairways, the more greens I can hit, like I feel like I can take advantage of my putter, give myself a lot of looks, and I’ll make my fair share.”
Three players are tied for fifth place at 10 under — South Korea’s Tom Kim, Frankie Capan III and Vince Whaley.
Higgo finished T7 at the Procore Championship three weeks ago, but was able to play the final round with winner Scottie Scheffler. The experience was invaluable.
“Yeah, I learned a lot. I couldn’t tell you how much I learned, but I learned so much just by watching. He’s an inspiration for all of us. He’s set the bar so high. It’s just phenomenal how high his skill level is.”
Montgomery, 30, started on the back nine and parred the first five holes. Then, he ignited, birdieing seven in a row en route to his 63. Montgomery also competed at UNLV, but exited the program the year before Higgo arrived in Las Vegas. He struggled out of the gate this year, but has a pair of top-12 finishes in his last four PGA Tournament starts.
“This year has been a lot of like kind of tinkering and messing around,” said Montgomery. “My swing has gotten a lot better, but I was working on that. Now if I can take how I play at home out here to tournament golf, I think — it’s more like what I’ve done today.”
Higgo will be paired with Cole and Montgomery will play alongside Walker on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
