The Garrick Higgo Olympic diary

Thursday, 29 - Advantage in numbers for US? Good to get going!

It’s great to finally get our Olympic competition underway here in Tokyo, even though the weather threatened to put a stop to it.

I was up early, around 05h30, and just grabbed a coffee and a snack before jumping on the shuttle to the golf course. My tee time was 10h14, so I wanted to make sure I was at the course early enough to get in my normal warm-up and prep.

I’ve mentioned that the course is two hours from the athletes’ village, so you probably wonder what I do for two hours in the car? As I’m still only 22, you probably think that I spend all my time on my phone, but the reality is that I get quite car sick if I do, so I prefer to just chill and chat with whoever is in the car with me. In this case, it’s my caddie, Nick.

With the weather holding up play for about two hours, I just used the time to get some food and relax in the clubhouse with Nick and Team Manager Joanne Newell, who is here looking after Christiaan and myself – a break from her day job as Membership Manager at the Sunshine Tour back home.

Once my revised tee time was confirmed, I went through my usual drills and routine – putting, hitting balls for 30 minutes etc - to make sure I was ready for the first tee.

As mentioned, I was grouped with Aussie Cam Smith and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who played really well, before dropping the last two holes to finish with a three-under-par 68. Cam and I both struggled a bit, with me struggling mainly off the tee, which is not the way to go about scoring on this course. You definitely need to be in the fairway to attack some of the pins and I think that’s what the guys at the top of the leaderboard did.

I don’t know Austria’s Sepp Straka personally, but he obviously played well to shoot 63 and lead. I have heard of him, though, and I think he plays on the PGA Tour. I would be surprised, though, if he goes out and shoots another round like that, particularly if the wind picks up. Today it was still, even with the wet weather around, and the course is in such good condition that it definitely is gettable, if you can hit the ball straight.

In saying that, I think I actually played alright and made a couple of good saves, including one or two long putts to keep myself in it. So, 71 – even-par – was not a bad result, even if I’m eight shots off the lead. There’s still a lot of golf to be played.

Whilst most countries here have two guys representing them, and some countries only one, the Americans have four, due to all four being in the top-15 of the world rankings.

With double the amount of players and accompanying support staff, you would expect to hear them around, but I haven’t, probably due to the fact that they were on opposite sides of the draw today, and I believe they aren’t staying in the athletes’ village. That’s Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, and Justin Thomas.

When I got back to the athletes’ village, Nick and I just grabbed some dinner – I had salad and some chicken - but now I’m back in my room after a long day.

Christiaan, at least, got off to a good start, shooting 68, but as I write this, at around 21h00 Tokyo time, I still haven’t seen him. He left very early, due to his 08h14 tee time and obviously got back much earlier than me, so I need to catch up with him before we hit the sack.

On that note, I still need to do my stats and get into bed, as I’m off early tomorrow at 08h14 (01h14 SA time).

Will be in touch tomorrow – hopefully with good news!

Wednesday, 28 July - Christiaan arrives, and we're ready to go!

Not too much to report on my third full day in Tokyo, but a useful one nonetheless, in terms of preparing for Thursday’s opening round of the Olympic golf tournament.

I was up around the same time – 06h30 – and once again went for the scrambled eggs and bacon in the athletes’ village food hall. I’m a little bit superstitious and also, once I find something I like in a certain place, I tend to stick with it. It helps that the eggs and bacon in the food hall are pretty delicious!

Unfortunately, I didn’t spot any big names in the food hall, but I have to be honest, I’m not great with faces and names, and there could have been some international stars – I just wouldn’t have recognised them! I think I need to get my hands on some sort of Olympic programme or guide, with pictures, so I know who’s who and I can do some celeb spotting!

Once again, my caddie Nick and I hopped on the shuttle bus to the golf course around 09h00, so that I could get in some more practice. This time I played a few holes on the front nine, after playing the back nine on Tuesday.

I usually don’t do much work on the Wednesday before a tournament, so the work I did today was a bit unusual, but I wanted to make sure I felt completely comfortable before the first round, where I’ve been grouped with Aussie Cam Smith and Norway’s Viktor Hovland.

We’re off at 10h14, which is 03h14 South African time, so my round will probably be over by the time most South Africans are up and about. I hope you’ll wake to some good SA scores.

My team partner Christiaan is off before me at 08h14 (01h14 SA time) with American Xander Schauffele and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, and as I write this, he’s getting some much-needed sleep. He also had a long trip from South Africa, with a few issues on his end which delayed his flight. So, he only got in late on Tuesday. But, he’s a great golfer and a real pro, so I’m expecting him to perform well.

As expected, I bumped into a fair number of guys I know from the tour at the course, including Rory Sabbatini, who, if you follow your South African golf, you’ll know is representing Slovakia, despite being born in Durban. I also saw New Zealand’s Ryan Fox – or ‘Foxy’ as I know him as – and we spent some time together, as I know him fairly well, as we’re represented by the same company.

Once we got back from the course, we just spent some time watching TV in the recreational centre, which I’ve already mentioned. It’s pretty cool there, with table tennis, darts, video games etc, and it’s a nice place to chill. It also has the gym there, so it gets pretty busy and there’s a nice vibe. You can also ride a bike there on a simulator, but nobody was doing that!

You may have gathered from my previous columns that it’s not quite the full Olympic experience, due to the fact that we’re not allowed to go and watch other sports compete, which would also obviously take up a lot more time. But, we just have to make the most of what we’ve got and what we’re allowed to do.

I am, though, slowly starting to meet other South African athletes and just before writing this, I got to meet 400m hurdler Wenda Nel, who seemed pretty nice.

Hoping to meet more as the days go by, but right now, the focus is on the golf event and getting off to a good start, as I go in search of an Olympic gold medal!

It’s been another interesting day in Tokyo and we’re slowly starting to settle into a bit of a rhythm, having recovered from the long trip.

Unfortunately, I’m still without my golf partner, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, but I’m expecting him this (Tuesday) evening. He’s had a few issues on his end, but he’s raring to get here and help me get a medal for Team SA.

It was great to get a full night’s sleep, but I was still up at 06h30 for breakfast in the athletes’ village and I happily tucked into scrambled eggs and bacon. It was tough to choose what to have, because there really is every kind of food you could think of, covering every cuisine. On top of that, the food hall is open 24 hours a day, so you can go in there any time and grab something to eat.

I didn’t spot many athletes I recognised, except for American basketball star Kevin Durant. He stood out – not only because he was probably the biggest sports star there at the time, but also because he’s six foot 10! I’d love to meet more members of the US basketball team, but I’d probably take meeting any of the big-name athletes from other sports, because you just know that whoever is competing here is the best in their sport.

It really is a bummer that we can’t go and watch any other events, like the swimming, so I just have to make sure I qualify for the Games in Paris in three years’ time, to get the full Olympic experience!

After breakfast it was into the bus for the trip to Kasumigaseki Country Club, which is 40 minutes north of Tokyo, but two hours from the athletes’ village. We have to do a Covid test every day and that requires us spitting into a little container, which I guess is better than having something stuck up your nose or down your throat...

I just played the back nine, which has quite a lot of water, and it was good to get some more time on the course, as well as some time on the range afterwards, working on my swing. Interestingly, this golf course has two of the longest par-fives I’ve ever seen, with me hitting driver-driver on both of them, just to get up near the green.

It was also good to see a couple more golfers around the club, particularly in the colours of their countries, including the two Aussies, Marc Leishman and Cam Smith, who are friendly guys, and who I obviously know from the tour. There were plenty more familiar faces and I’ve seen one or two round the village, including Englishman Paul Casey, who has been zooting around on a bike. I was interested to see that the two Mexican guys, Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, are sharing flats with the Mexican boxers and equestrian team. That’s pretty cool!

You can imagine that with a two-hour drive either way, there’s not much time for too much else, away from the golf, but when we got back, Nick and I made sure we properly checked out the athletes’ village. It’s got such a nice vibe, maybe because the only people in it are the athletes, and everyone is here for the same reason – to win an Olympic medal for their country.

There’s also a really nice recreational centre, where the gym is, and where there are all sorts of games to play, like ping pong.

Some countries – like the Aussies and the Americans – are a bit more organised and have their own team rooms, with beach chairs and TVs they can watch some of the Olympic action on. So, they’ve set up on the ground floor and there’s such a great vibe with athletes gathered around watching their countrymen and women competing.

At least we have a great view! And there’s a beautiful bridge nearby, all lit up with lovely colours.

Monday, 26 July - Long transfers and jet lag

It’s awesome to finally be in Tokyo for the Olympics, but geez, I’d forgotten how long it takes to get to Japan from South Africa!

I think it was nine hours to Qatar and another 10-and-a-half to Tokyo, so my caddie - Nick Cavendish-Pell – and I were a bit shattered when we finally arrived.

He flew from London, but was on the same flight from Doha. On top of that, it took about two hours to get through everything at the airport – Covid testing, passport control etc – and then another two-hour car journey before we got to the athletes’ village. So, it was pretty late – about midnight - by the time we got in, never mind the effects of jet lag.

But, despite all that, it’s great to be here representing my country and sharing the experience with someone, and I’m just looking forward to not only teeing off on Thursday, but also meeting other athletes and getting a real sense of the Olympic vibe.

Everything is so well organised and smooth, which, I guess, is what you expect from the Japanese. But it’s impressive, nonetheless. That includes the food in the athletes’ village. We ate really late on Sunday evening, but after waking up around 09h00 on Monday, I had a nice breakfast, after only going to bed around 04h00, due to the late arrival and plenty of excitement.

I haven’t checked out the gym here yet, although I’ve been told it’s pretty impressive with amazing facilities. But, I’ve also heard it’s quite busy, so, with Covid I’m not sure how much time I will spend there.

Even though I’ve been a bit knackered today, I got in nine holes at the golf course and it was a real treat. Nobody has played on it since May, I think, and it’s probably one of the best conditioned golf courses I’ve seen in a long time.

There are no divots and the greens and fairways are absolutely perfect. I’d probably describe it as a ‘parkland-type’ course and it is really nice. I have played in Japan once before and this course is similar, although that course is in the mountains.

This one has kikuyu rough and fairways, and bent grass greens – all in immaculate condition. The perfect combination, I think.

I haven’t had time to meet any other athletes yet, but I’m sure I will, once we settle into more ‘normal’ times for eating. Nick couldn’t sleep and says he saw the South African surfer Bianca Buitendag leaving the village around 03h30 to compete – as the surfing is also quite far away - and I see that she did well, reaching the quarterfinals.

The athletes’ village is pretty basic, but very nice, and it looks like it cost a fair amount. There are a bunch of 16-storey buildings, like flats, and all the South Africans are grouped together, I think taking up three floors of one building.

As you can see, my room is pretty small and basic, but fine, and I have to share with my golf partner, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, so I think we’ll find that five days in this small, confined space together is probably enough!

He hasn’t arrived yet, so I’m looking forward to him getting here, preparing with me, and the two of us sharing the Olympic experience and representing South African golf.

In terms of my impressions of Tokyo, you can see that everyone is very busy and there are lots of cars on the road, and, of course, everyone is masked up, due to Covid. But, again, I’d forgotten how massive the city is, with huge buildings and so many people.

If possible, I’m looking to explore more, but that will depend on what us athletes are allowed to do, outside the village and our events.

Right now, I’m off to get some sleep, as I’m shattered!