LOS CABOS, Mexico — Garrick Higgo matched the El Cardonal at Diamante course record with an 11-under 61 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Carson Young into the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship.
Already a winner this season, Higgo chipped in for eagle on the par-5 first, parred the second and followed with five straight birdies in a 7-under 29 on the front nine. The 26-year-old left-hander from South Africa added four birdies on the back, the last on the par-5 18th to get to 22-under 194.
“Hit it great, made a lot of good putts and chipped in once,” Higgo said. “Just everything was really solid and took advantage of the opportunities that I had.”
Higgo had the lowest score of his PGA Tour career and became the sixth player to shoot 61 on the course.
Young had 11 birdies and two bogeys in a 63. The 30-year-old former Clemson player is winless on the PGA Tour.
“Just keep doing what I’m doing and just focus on playing my game and not looking at the leaderboard too much or worrying about others,” Young said. “I’m excited about it because last year I finished second here and missed out by one in a playoff. Kind of feels like revenge here to be in the final group again. I’m excited to see if I can break through.”
Ryder Cup rookie Ben Griffin (66), Trevor Cone (65) and Chad Ramey (67) were two strokes back. Sami Välimäki (69) was 19 under, and second-round leader Matti Schmid (71) was 18 under. On Thursday, Valimaki and Nick Dunlap each shot 61.
Only three tournaments, including this one on the southern tip of Baja California, remain this season. The top 100 in the FedEx Cup – down from 125 in previous years – retain full PGA Tour cards for next season. Higgo is 57th, Young 136th, Cone 179th, Ramey 123, Valimaki 103rd and Schmid 70th. Griffin has two victories on the season.
Higgo won the Corales Puntacana Championship in April in the Dominican Republic for his second PGA Tour title. That event was played opposite the RBC Heritage. The former UNLV player has three straight top-seven finishes. He tied for seventh at Silverado, was second in Mississippi and tied for fourth in Japan.
“Not really anything new,” Higgo said. “Just doing a lot of the same stuff.”
Luke List made a mess of the par-4 15th hole with a 12 in a round of 85. It was the second-highest hole score on the PGA Tour this year, behind William Mouw’s 13 on the par-5 16th in the second round of The American Express at the PGA West Stadium Course.
List was last among the 75 weekend qualifiers at 6 over.
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