Garrick Higgo defeated Alejandro Tosti, Keith Mitchell, Jeremy Paul, Michael Thorbjornsen and Joel Dahmen by one stroke in the Corales Puntacana Championship for his second career victory and first since the Palmetto Championship in 2021.
However, it was Dahmen who held the lead after each of the first three rounds. After shooting a course-record 62 on Thursday, Dahmen followed up that performance with a round of 66 on Friday. The wind picked up during Saturday’s round and made scoring difficult for the players, but Dahmen still held a three-shot lead over Chan Kim, Thorbjornsen and Higgo going into the final day and looked to be headed to the winner’s circle for the second time in his career. He was looking to join Brice Garnett as the second wire-to-wire winner of this event but faltered down the stretch, bogeying the last three holes. Meanwhile, Higgo shot even-par on Sunday to steal the victory.
On Sunday, Dahmen said, “It’s not how you win a golf tournament, I’ll tell you that. I don’t deserve to win it. You know, bogeying the last three is inexcusable. I don’t know what happened on the short one on 17.”
Higgo is the youngest player and only left-handed player to win the Corales Puntacana Championship. With this win, he earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a spot in this year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
The PGA Tour is off to New Orleans for the Zurich Classic next week. This is the only team competition tournament during the PGA Tour season. Last year’s champions, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, will look to defend their title.
