Higgins rekindles Euro Tour love affair
Not so for David Higgins.
Just over a week before he celebrates his 40th birthday, and 17 years after he came through the European Tour Qualifying School for the first time, the soft-spoken Waterville man seized his destiny after completing the “most important round of my career”.
A closing two under par 70 in the six-round test at PGA Catalunya Resort gave the reigning Irish PGA champion the 14th of 28 cards on seven under par and the opportunity to finally live up to the potential he showed when beating Pádraig Harrington in the final of not one but two major Irish amateur championships in 1994.
His story is true-life triumph over adversity but it took some deep soul-searching following a mental game seminar earlier this year, followed by a 10th place finish in the tour’s flagship BMW PGA at Wentworth, to convince him to give the Tour one last go.
Having won back his card through the Challenge Tour in 2005, he lost it in 2006 and was struck down by a mystery liver illness the following year. Unbelievably, he failed to earn a medical exemption from the European Tour and reluctantly returned to the Challenge Tour in 2008, at the age of 35.
A few months into the season, he looked around at the young guns on the chipping green at a minor event in Denmark and thought: “What the hell am I doing here?”
He returned to Ireland to reassess, recharge and play the pro-am circuit. But while he dominated the Irish Region, winning the money list several times and following in father Liam’s footsteps by claiming the Irish Professional Championship this year, the call of the Tour remained strong.
He still had to take care of unfinished business.
“My attitude has not been good playing for the last few years in the Irish Region,” Higgins explained yesterday after a hugely impressive final round. “I knew I was better than that. I’m not saying the region is a disaster, but I always knew in my own mind that I wasn’t achieving what I was capable of achieving.
“Maybe I needed someone to say it to me or to figure it out myself and going to a seminar on the mental game this year drove me on. I finished 10th in the BMW PGA at Wentworth.
“I’m 40 next Saturday and I couldn’t see myself lasting another 10 years on the Irish Region just waiting for the Seniors Tour. So it was a case of saying, ‘Are we doing this or not?’
“I’ve had tough times, yes. I had some form of liver disease for a while that cost me most of a year. But you can’t be making excuses. I’ve had plenty opportunities over the last 17 years.
“I took a few, not too many, but you can’t be living in the past. We have to move forward now and it’s exciting and I am delighted. And I am delighted for all the well-wishers as well.
“You wouldn’t think that many people are interested or following you but it is incredible the amount of messages and texts I have received. It’s great to do it for them.”
With the top 25 and ties earning cards after six rounds, Higgins went into the final day sitting in the hotseat, tied for 22nd place on five under par. He knew he needed a sub-par round on the tough Stadium Course to make it through and produced a brilliant all-round display.
After a shaky first nine, he turned at five under, just inside the top 25. Needing a sub-par back nine to win his card, he birdied the par-five 12th with a wedge to nine feet, the 13th from 20 feet and par-five 15th from six feet after another canny lay-up.
He was virtually home and dry, two shots inside the projected cut off with three to play but he refused to let up.
“Just hit it hard is what I’m thinking,” Higgins said. “Hit every shot full out. Just commit and go at it. And I did that on the par-three 16th. Lovely five iron, 215 yards, two putts.”
He had to hole from six feet for par at the 17th to remain at eight under and while he bunkered his 220-yard approach to the 18th, dropping a shot there to slip to seven under, he was a shot inside the cut mark.
“Words can’t describe how tight you feel coming down the last few holes there,” Higgins said. “It just twists you inside. You only get one go at it and if you mess it up, that’s it.”
Three-putts by Gary Orr on the 18th meant he made it with two to spare. The Scot’s error also allowed all those at five under to make it as he became the oldest player to win his Tour card at Q-school, at the age of 45.
In contrast, playing partner and compatriot George Murray promptly three-putted for a double bogey six, horse-shoeing out from less than three feet to miss out by a stroke.
The top card went to England’s John Parry, who closed with a 70 to win by four from Swede Mikael Lundberg on 19 under.
Higgins knows that he must now take advantage of his second chance, which could give him 20 starts on tour next year, more if he wins next weekend’s PGA play-offs in Turkey: “If I can win that it’ll get me in the BMW PGA at Wentworth again, Celtic Manor and Scottish Open.”
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