Harry Higgs is back, but the U.S. Open contender is not the man you remember

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Just over 22,7000 shots have been struck by 156 players over two rounds at this U.S. Open. Another 10,000 or so more will be hit over the weekend. And you know what? None of them — not one — has been, or will be, better than the putt Harry Higgs struck from behind Shinnecock Hill’s par-3 11th hole around 3:30 on Friday afternoon.

From perhaps the most diabolical spot on the entire course. The fate of an otherwise great round of golf hanging in the balance. Higgs considered his options. Maybe a chip. Maybe a lag putt. Maybe jump the fence over to his left and get out of dodge. Eight years ago, from the same spot, Brooks Koepka elected to chip across the green into a front bunker, essentially ceding a bogey instead of risking a double, triple or worse. The decision ended up winning him the 2018 U.S. Open.

Higgs pulled putter.

From 75 feet.

Up it rolled to the green, over a ridge, along a spine, holding the line, pulling from left to right, moving hard.

And in.

“Disbelief,” Higgs said later.

THE BIG RIG! 🚛

Spectacular birdie from well off the green for Harry Higgs! pic.twitter.com/w6QaSeqGd8

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 19, 2026

Of course, right? Playing on one of golf’s grandest stages, as the 156th player to qualify for the 156-player tournament, of course Higgs rolled in one of the most improbable birdies in this or any U.S. Open to bust into a leaderboard that didn’t see him coming. In a tournament anticipated to be one of the most difficult tests in recent memory, Higgs, ranked 356th in the world rankings, currently sits alongside two-time major winner Justin Thomas and PGA Tour winners Sam Burns and Sahith Theegala in a seventh-place tie at 1-under.

It wasn’t long ago when Higgs had a knack for making noise. Large and loud, he regularly mixed viral moments with big-game performances. Breakout showings at Kiawah in 2021 and Augusta in 2022 gave birth to a character. The Everyman to cheer for. The Partyboy to toast to. Sponsorship opportunities followed. Doors swung open. A caricature took shape.

And the thing about caricatures?

They don’t age.

So here, for your consideration, is Harry Higgs, all these years later.

34. Husband to wife, Kailee. Father to 8-month-old son, Heath.

“Man, at this point in my life, what’s tough is that I just want to be the version of who I want to be,” Higgs said Friday.

How’s that for relatable?

Since winning two Korn Ferry events in 2024 to again secure PGA Tour status, Higgs lost his card after the 2025 season and has spent this year back in the nether regions of the Korn Ferry. Over the last two years, he’s made 45 starts across the two tours. He’s produced only three top 20s. He’s gone home after 24 missed cuts.

The 75th-best PGA Tour player has made $1.39 million so far this season. Higgs has made $36,475 on Korn Ferry, before expenses.

Hard times. Hard reality.

It’s not uncommon for pro golfers to talk about quitting. Other than for the elite few, the game takes more than it gives. It’s best to get out alive; a lot more than most of us can say when the talent we have turns its back on us, and when time moves on without looking back.

But how can one quit when all it takes is the right week at the right tournament to change everything?

Six holes into his U.S. Open qualifier two weeks ago, Higgs pulled a phone from his golf bag and booked a flight back home to Kansas City from Charlotte, N.C. His plan: Walk off the course at the turn, go to the airport, and maybe walk away forever.

Then came 13 birdies over the next 30 holes, a spot in the qualifier playoff and, ultimately, first-alternate status. When Bud Cauley won last weekend’s Canadian Open, an extra spot at Shinnecock officially became available. Higgs learned he was in after finishing T14 at last weekend’s OccuNet Classic, a Korn Ferry Tour event in Amarillo, Texas. Whatever percentage of his $14,000 winnings in Amarillo he actually pocketed probably didn’t cover the mad dash to New York.

Now Higgs is here, after rounds of 71 and 68, heading into Saturday with one of the last four tee times of the day, paired with Thomas. The version of Higgs that steered around Shinnecock on Friday can contend. It looked a lot like the one that nearly stole fire from the sky at the 2021 PGA Championship.

“Felt like the Lord himself swinging,” Higgs said of his second round.

Recounting the day, Higgs sounded like a man explaining why we don’t see him much anymore and owning up to why. He explained that he’s in contention at Shinnecock because he’s playing without pretense. Then he posed his own question.

“I mean, that’s fun, right?” he said. “That’s, like, why I do all this crap. I want to experience that. I didn’t allow myself to get super high today or to get really low, at all. It was, like, f— the lows. Let’s just hit the next shot. Let’s just do that.”

Walking in stride with Higgs on Friday, those who know him best could see exactly what was happening. Someone who’s been on the brink, getting yet another reminder of how close it all can be. Another bite of the apple.

Maybe the cruelest part of golf at this level.

Maybe the best part, too.

“How can you tell him he can’t do it when he’s doing this?” Kailee said amid Friday afternoon’s long shadows.

Kailee and Mike Higgs, Harry’s dad, and a tight pack of friends and family set off toward the grandstands next to Shinnecock’s 18th green to watch the second round wind down. All afternoon, they all echoed the same thought — at his best, Harry can play world-class golf on the game’s toughest tracks, against the game’s greatest players.

And at his worst? Well …

“His own worst enemy,” Mike Higgs said. “It can be toxic.”

Which brings us back to No. 11. Seeing where his tee shot ended up, the Harry Higgs of the recent past might’ve turned to hot lava and melted his way across the back nine.

But this one? Higgs picked his line, hit his shot and accepted the results. In truth, he was trying to hit the ball 15 feet left of the break, but it ended up catching. The best shot of this tournament was, indeed, an accident. Higgs credited it as a reward for him making “the choice to be confident” and choosing to simply “be nice to myself.”

“I don’t know why it came,” Higgs said of his first and second rounds. “Maybe (Shinnecock) is just so hard that I could shrug off all the bad things that happened to me a little easier, but man, for the first time in a while I truly thought that, like, yeah, I can do this.”

Of late, Harry and Kailee have found themselves having the same conversation over and over. Harry doesn’t want to see his son’s first steps on a FaceTime video. He doesn’t like clinging to a game that might not love him back anymore. Kailee agrees. Traveling week after week to pursue PGA Tour riches and a secure future is one thing. Chasing your own ghost on the Korn Four Tour is another.

So they wonder, is this all worth it?

Maybe the answer will come Sunday. It’s Father’s Day.