This Story About Harry Higgs’s Win at the Peru Open is Pure Gold

The aftermath of a win on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit was unforgettable.

This is Harry Higgs’ fourth year on the PGA Tour. At the Mexico Open this week, he’ll make his 99th start since graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour. Before that, Higgs spent multiple seasons on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where the 31-year-old captured his first professional victory. 

Speaking from Vidanta Vallarta, the SMU product detailed some of the career-defining moments from his time hopping from country to country on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit. 

“I guess Latin countries, Spanish-speaking countries will always hold a special place in my heart because they've kind of molded the professional golfer I am today,” Higgs said. 

From picking up the necessary Spanish phrases for a travel week (Higgs says dinner orders were the top of the priority list) to developing relationships with caddies despite the language barrier, Higgs views his time in Latin America very fondly. 

“The caddies were almost more into the result than I was, and sometimes you’d have to say, ‘hey man, calm down, it’s just Thursday, we’re going to be OK,” Higgs said. 

In 2018, three years after playing his first season on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, Higgs’s career changed forever when he won the Peru Open. The victory helped him reach the top spot in the Tour’s Order of Merit, giving him a coveted Korn Ferry Tour card. 

The aftermath of Higgs’s Peru Open win, however, might have stuck with him more than the victory itself. On Tuesday, the Dallas resident recounted what went down after he hoisted his first trophy, and the story is a Higgs classic.

“One of the things I also remember from Peru is all the lomo saltado that I ate. The food there, it was fantastic,” he said. “It was one of the best meals I think I ever had and I think it was because we had won on Sunday and then went up to the hotel we were staying at and we had four, five hours to kill before flying the midnight flight back to Dallas. Fortunately for me, it was direct. 

“I think I might have had two orders of lomo saltado, probably a few too many beers and then wandered to the airport and got on the plane. I was so caught up in the win and everything, I didn't download any shows on my iPad and figured that the plane that we'd be on may be a newer plane and it might have the entertainment on the seat back. 

“It didn't, so it was a pretty miserable flight. You're so jacked up, you can't really sleep and I had nothing to do, so basically spent the next seven hours thinking about my win and also staring at the chair in front of me. But my belly was full and I very much enjoyed the food in Peru.”