Harry Higgs earned his way back onto the PGA Tour this year, returning to golf’s biggest stage with a more complete game than when he left it following a disappointing 2023.

While Higgs may have felt better about his game entering the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, he had missed three consecutive cuts and five of his last six overall.

“I mean, how long do you have?” Higgs said when asked how he was dealing with those struggles, despite feeling like he wasn’t playing poorly. “You think about everything, right? Why is it not working for me? I’ve struggled before, and this is different. This is like, wait a second, I’m doing things pretty well in comparison to when I was struggling a couple of years ago.

“So that’s probably almost harder knowing that I have quote, unquote, a lot of arrows in my quiver right now, but I’m not picking any of the right ones. Three years ago, there might have been a lone arrow.”

Through two rounds of the Myrtle Beach Classic, nearly every arrow Higgs pulled has found the bullseye, propelling him near the top of leaderboard after 36 holes. The New Jersey native followed a first round 67, with a 66 that included seven birdies, courtesy of sharp iron play and a hot putter.

“I mean, I’m beating a lot of people, so it’s pretty good,” Higgs said of his play. “Yeah, hell, I’ve been playing pretty good golf. I don’t really have many results to show for it, but it was nice to have two days worth of it. Hopefully do the same thing and keep going and have four days to show for it.”

As crisp as his game has been in Myrtle Beach, Higgs attributes his success to an improved mental outlook, and he was forced to pass an early test on Thursday. On the par 4 11th hole, his second of the day, Higgs hit what he called a great 3-wood that just barely ended up in the rough, and he hit a wedge exactly as he wanted to, only to have hit the top of a bunker and tumble back into the sand where he had a poor lie.

“I almost did the woe is me,” Higgs said. “Like, holy cow, the three shots that I hit on this hole do not deserve 14 feet for par. Then it was, like, ‘dude, I mean, it’s not even noon on Thursday yet, and this is the second hole that I’ve played. It’s okay.’

“Fortunately, I made the putt, which I almost wish I didn’t just to see if I could have snapped out of it because I can get angry. I can get really angry, and I’m allowing myself to get angry, but I can’t have the anger totally own me.”

While his Thursday round was a bit of a roller coaster – 7 birdies, 3 bogeys – he blistered the Dunes Golf & Beach Club for most of Friday morning, going out in 31 after making birdie on holes 7, 8 and 9. He stayed hot on the back and found his name at the top of the leaderboard after an 11-foot birdie putt on No. 16 pushed him to 11-under-par.

But things are never boring for Higgs. On a day when his ball-striking was outstanding, he pulled his tee shot on the par 3 17th hole 30 yards left of the green and made double bogey five, the only blemish on his card.

He didn’t let that mistake compound.

While his blood may have been boiling, Higgs channeled his anger in a positive way. He hammered a six iron on the approach, eliminating the possibility of having a 7 get caught in the wind and ending up in the water. He two-putted for an easy par and heads into the weekend at 9-under-par.

“I did a really good job, to be clear-head and make that decision,” he said. “I’m pretty proud of that.”

Higgs is also proud of the results he has enjoyed due to a commitment to working out, even going so far as to tell his trainer he would be able to dunk a basketball within 10 years. At 6-foot-2, Higgs has the height, but based on the grief his fellow players gave him during a Friday morning rain delay, his peers don’t expect to see him shining on the hardwood anytime soon.

Higgs smiled as he relayed that story, but his work in the gym is paying real dividends. He is averaging 307 yards off the tee, up six yards from 2023.

Higgs will take every advantage he can get as he heads into the weekend with a chance to win his first PGA Tour event.

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