Highsmith Is Masters-Bound
Pepperdine alum emerges from the field at PGA National. Plus, Lydia Ko continues to roll, Naidoo wins in South Africa, (another lefty) Peake comes out on top in New Zealand, and Suh earns Open berth.
(Seemingly) half of The Open field was filled this weekend while the Masters added another first-timer to its invitation list when Joe Highsmith took the tournament formerly known as the Honda. The winners—including two lefthanded golfers—from a busy weekend…
Highsmith Barely Makes Cut, Then Wins Cognizant
Joe Highsmith barely made the Cognizant Classic (in the Palm Beaches!) cut. So he teed off early Saturday, happy to play the weekend and hoping to take advantage of PGA National before the notoriously difficult course finally started pushing back.
The second-year PGA Tour pro from Pepperdine has been at a 50% cut rate in just over 30 starts. But a pair of 64s later, and with some help from the course turning faster and nastier on Sunday, the Washington native finds himself headed for The Masters as the PGA Tour’s youngest winner of 2025.
Highsmith’s four-stroke final round comeback is the largest of the early season, and his 265 total is the lowest in the tournament’s PGA National history. Highsmith also became the first left-handed winner on the PGA Tour since Matt McCarty at last fall’s 2024 Black Desert Championship.
The 24-year-old will also move to No. 59 in the Official World Golf Ranking after starting the week at No. 170.
“I never really try to think about winning,” Highsmith said after suggesting he found his game the prior week in the Mexico Open. “All that stuff is just kind of a little abstract. You're just trying to hit one good shot at a time. I had seen a couple boards out there and you get that feeling when you're playing well that maybe you do have a chance to win. As long as you don't mess it up, then you'll end up on top. I've had a few tournaments like that over the years, but I haven't won too many times. This one felt pretty good to do it out here at this great event.”
Highsmith was not sure if he should discuss a Masters invitation now coming his way after winning.
“Did you say the Masters?” he replied to a question about the perks of winning the former Honda Classic. “I don't want to break any protocol…Augusta National is a place that has a really special place in my heart. I've only been there a couple times as a spectator and I was able to play, fortunately, with a couple members last year.
“It is just like the most incredible place on earth. I went last year to the tournament just as a spectator because any chance that I can get to walk out there is pretty -- I'm going to take advantage of that. But to be playing in that tournament is going to be very special and something, obviously, you work towards your whole life, but you never really know when you're going to get that chance. It's pretty sweet for that to be coming pretty soon.”
Also of note…
Jacob Bridgeman matched the low round of the day (64) to finish T2 at 17-under.
J.J. Spaun earned his second top-three of the season in seven starts with a T2 finish (previous: T3/Sony Open in Hawaii)
Jake Knapp held the solo lead after each of the first three rounds but closed with 1-over 72, including a triple on the par-4 11th, to finish T6.
Two days after reaching 20 points to earn membership via the PGA Tour “University Accelerated,” amateur Luke Clanton closed with 69 to finish T18 at 9-under. His emotional cut-making moment was documented by Brentley Romine at NBCSports.com. Clanton plans to finish the season at Florida State now that his future is secured. “I want to win a national championship, plain and simple. Again, it's awesome to earn my card, but those guys have fought so hard for me and I've fought hard for that team. We have one goal in mind, and that's to win.”
Ko Wins Asia’s Major
Lydia Ko dreamt that she’d won, then woke up, and realized she had work to do in the HSBC Women’s World Championship. Nothing like a little positive visualization!
The reigning AIG Women’s Open champion secured her 23rd LPGA Tour title after posting 69 to win the best field of the season to date. Her 13-under total was good enough for a four-stroke win over Ayaka Furue and Jeeno Thitikul.
“I just wanted to play steady. I started off really consistently. I hit a lot of greens, and I think that was going to be the big key. I knew that Jeeno and Charley hit it much further than me. So you know, the distance wasn't going to be to my advantage, but as long as I played steady golf and just give myself good looks for birdies, I felt like some of them were going to drop. Making my first birdie on 6 and having three in a row was definitely good momentum going into the back nine.
“Because I had that experience, it didn't feel very new but there were a lot of people and I rode all the support they were giving me,” Ko said. “I had some really poor rounds out here, too. So I knew that I know the golf course really well, and I think that played into my favor.”
Three players tied for fourth place, including Jin Hee Im, Gaby Lopez and Charley Hull, who was battling illness.
Naidoo Continues South African Dominance
For the seventh year in a row, a South African has won the Investec South African Open Championship.