Joe Highsmith secured his first career triumph on the PGA TOUR in remarkable fashion with a two-shot victory at the Cognizant Classic.
The 24-year-old was on the brink of not making the halfway cut in the second round at PGA National after finding himself at the foot of the leaderboard. But he holed a five-foot putt on the last to make the cut on Friday and go into the weekend with an eight-stroke deficit over the leaders.
But in an incredible turn of events, the Washington native stormed up the leaderboard over the final two rounds. He carded consecutive 7-under 64s on his way to setting a new clubhouse target of 19 under and make tournament history by recording the lowest final 36-hole score to seal a maiden victory on the circuit.
“I played probably the best round of my life,” said Highsmith, as he described his bogey-free final round which featured four birdies in five holes.
“[My mum] was supposed to leave at the turn but I was like, ‘well what if I’m like five-under through nine, mom?’
“I played great on the front and then I saw her on the 12th hole and was like, ‘yeah, she cancelled her flight’.”
Further PGA TOUR history was made as Highsmith became only the third player in 15 years to make the cut on the number and go onto win. The previous player to achieve such a feat was America’s Brandt Snedeker at the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open.
Victory means that Highsmith has booked himself a place at the upcoming Masters Tournament next month as well as the PGA Championship and the rest of the signature events on the PGA TOUR calendar. He has also secured a PGA TOUR card right through to 2027.
“Those best players in the world, I don’t really play in the same events as any of them, especially last year and even this year,” said Highsmith.
“It’ll be pretty fun to get to compete and kind of see how I stack up with some of them.”
It was an American-filled leaderboard with J.J. Spaun and Jacob Bridgeman finishing tied-2nd on 17 under and Max McGreavy and Ben Griffin finishing tied-4th.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the Arnold Palmers Invitational presented by Mastercard taking place between 6-9 March at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando.