Doors begin to open for Higgins

The golfing gods haven’t always been particularly favourable to David Higgins but they certainly compensated over the past few days as the 40-year-old Waterville man’s fortunes went on a decidedly upward curve.

A share of second place in the Italian Open in Turin on Sunday earned him a career-high cheque for €130,240 and sent him from 163rd place to 111th on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit with a total of €205,287. In turn, that left him just one spot outside the number who qualify for a full card in 2014 and just €4,940 behind the player immediately ahead of him, Italian Lorenzo Gagli.

It also meant he had earned a place in the Portugal Masters on October 10-13 and the ideal opportunity to move into the top 110. However, there was even better news yesterday when he received a telephone call from the European Tour enquiring if he was available to accept an invitation to play in this week’s lucrative $5m Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.