Higgins back on right track after enduring period in the rough

WATERVILLE’S David Higgins is confident his career is back on track having successfully battled illness and loss of form.

He made his mark in three recent back-to-back tournaments on the PGA Irish Region and has also set his sights on the Challenge of Ireland event on the PGA European Challenge Tour and hopefully a few other events on that circuit.

Higgins won the Woodbrook pro-am with a fine round of five under par 67 and a week later came second in windy conditions at Foxrock by shooting one under par. After that he was off to Slieve Russell for the 36-hole tournament at the outstanding Co Cavan venue and again played close to his potential.

He opened with a 71 before scorching through the field in the second round with a 67 only to fall one short of winner, Michael McGeady.

“These events are helping me to find my way back,” says Higgins. “I am setting myself a goal of leading the Irish Region at the end of the year. That would earn me a place in next year’s Irish Open and in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth as well as five other tournaments on the main European Tour. I am really intent on doing that.”

After an outstanding career during which he captured the Irish Close and South of Ireland Championships in 1994 by beating Pádraig Harrington in both finals, Higgins turned professional later that year. He enjoyed a best finish of third in the 1996 BMW International in Munich and won three titles on the Challenge Tour in 2000, finishing runner-up to Henrik Stenson in the rankings.

He returned to the Challenge Tour in 2005 and produced five top ten finishes in collecting the 12th Tour card on offer.

Disappointingly, however, he succumbed to a liver infection resulting in jaundice in the winter of 2007.

“That put me out of action for five and a half months,” he said. “I couldn’t eat, I felt unwell all the time and had no energy so my golf was always going to suffer. I managed to clean the whole lot out but when I came back, my short game wasn’t where it needed to be. I just didn’t play well enough and when that happens, it’s not long before you’re falling down orders of merit and so on.

“I had to be honest with myself. I am now 36 and asked myself: where am I going? And the answer was, I still want to play, I’m still playing well enough. So I’ve shown a bit of form on the home region and now I’m looking forward to the Challenge of Ireland at Moy Valley in a couple of weeks.

“A top 10 finish there would put me into the St Omer Open, the biggest tournament on the Challenge Tour, the following week. So that’s a target along with leading the domestic order of merit and I will definitely go to the Tour School at the end of the year.”

A client of Horizon Sports Management, he is delighted that Shane Lowry is now a stable mate. Of his victory in the 3 Irish Open, he says: “I don’t think anyone, not even Shane himself, fully understands what he has done and I hope he can push on from here and I think he will.”

David lives in Waterville where he plays the great links almost every day while also working on his game with his brother and club professional Brian and spending long hours on the practice range. If ever a man deserved a change of fortune, he does.