The Garrick Higgo Olympic diary

Sunday, 01 - The end capped by a memorable experience

Wow, what a final day at my first Olympics!

In fact, I’m sitting here in my room and writing this well after midnight, after one of the longest, but amazing, days I’ve had in a long time.

Once again it started early, just before five, and we were quickly on our way to the golf course for the final round.

I really felt like I had a low one in me, but it just wasn’t to be and wasn’t my week, which is unfortunate, as I really wanted to win a medal for my country. But, starting the final round 14 shots back, it was clear that I was just too far behind to challenge the leaders, so I used the opportunity to work on a few things.

That was mainly my driving and I realised that I was getting too flat with my backswing. So, I’ve been working on sorting that out and I started to see some results, which is great for the road ahead.

I feel like things are trending in the right direction and I’m really excited for next week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, which is where I’m headed on Monday. Also, tournament golf keeps you sharp for tournament golf, so there was plenty to take out of this week, even though it wasn’t the result I wanted.

All of that being said, I felt I actually played a bit better today and also made a couple of incredible par saves from absolutely nowhere. That was on the ninth and the 17th. On nine, I drove it in the trees, chipped out, hit a seven-iron to 30 feet and made the putt. Then, on 17, actually hit my first drive out of bounds, reloaded, hit another drive, an iron to four feet, and made that putt. So, that was encouraging and probably the highlights of my round.

I didn’t hang around afterwards to wait for the leaders to come in, as I wanted to get back to the athletes’ village and make the most of what little time I had left.

But, I’m really chuffed for Xander Schauffele. He’s just a great guy and I’ve got to know him a bit, particularly after we roomed next to each other at the recent Scottish Open and had dinner together a couple of times. Funnily enough, he’s one of the few guys I haven’t played with yet, but I can tell you that he’s a top man.

Also happy, in a funny sort of way, for Rory Sabbatini and his silver medal. He’s an interesting guy and I know he now represents Slovakia, but he was born in South Africa and spent most of his early years there, so maybe we’ll claim him and his medal! What is not in doubt is that he played amazing golf on the final day, shooting 61, and certainly deserves his medal.

Once we got back to the athletes’ village, we caught the play-off for the bronze medal on the TV, before I did a bit of packing and then we grabbed a bite to eat in the food hall.

Then, we jumped in a shuttle bus around 17h30 and headed to the stadium to watch some athletics. I know I said earlier in the week that we weren’t allowed to watch other sports, but each nation was given two ‘all-access’ passes, which we – Johan Swanepoel, Christiaan’s caddie, and myself - managed to get our hands on.

Entering the stadium, we obviously needed to have our masks on and had our temperatures taken.

We watched the heats for the sprinting and then I got really into the men’s high jump, which went on for a bit and got so tight in the end. I loved it! There was also an amazing performance by the Venezuelan triple jumper, who broke the world record and won the gold. The stadium went nuts when that happened.

The stadium obviously wasn’t full, and they had us all in different sections and there was social distancing, but the vibe was still great and we had great seats. We were, basically, about 30 or 40 metres down the home straight and not too many rows back.

The evening ended with the men’s 100 metres final, which was awesome. They did this cool intro of the athletes before the race when the stadium lights went out and they lit up each lane. Really cool. I’m just sorry Akani Simbine missed out on a medal by just 0.04 seconds. That was really tough.

After that, it took us quite a while to get back to village and that’s why I’m writing this after midnight.

Tomorrow I’m on a plane back to the States and in Memphis for another big week.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Olympic diary.

Saturday, 31 - Palpable gees and one for the occasion

Another early start for me, around 06h00, as I wanted to get to the course early, because I wasn’t sure what time the third round would start.

That’s because some guys – including my team-mate Christiaan – had to finish their second rounds. All he had to do was make a four-foot putt for bogey to complete his round, which he did.

I then teed off at 10h30, looking to try and make some headway and reduce that 11-shot deficit to the lead.

Unfortunately, whilst I played better and made a few more putts – shooting a 70 to close on one under par – I just couldn’t really get going or give myself enough chances for birdie. That was largely due to me not driving it in the middle of the fairway and giving myself enough short irons into the pins. With this course, you can’t afford to be even slightly off-line, off the tee. Otherwise, you just can’t attack this course like the guys at the top of the leaderboard are doing. That’s because there are so many trees hanging over the edges of the fairways, so you need to be really straight with the driver, otherwise you’re having to contend with going over or around those over-hanging branches.

Christiaan is playing nicely, but he says he just can’t make any putts, as he’s struggling to read the greens, even though they are in excellent condition.

Xander Schauffele is playing awesome golf to be leading on 14-under. That’s pretty good going around here and his game is obviously in great shape.

When we finished the round, we headed straight back to the athletes’ village, as we needed to start packing and sort out our laundry. How that works is that you pile all your laundry into a bag and then take it down to the basement of our block of flats, where there are people there to sort it out for me. You then get it back the next evening. Once again, I’ve been impressed by how efficient the Japanese are with just about everything they do. The system works like clockwork.

I’ve been loving wearing the Team SA colours. The kit is good quality and quite colourful, which is actually a nice change, as we’re used to wearing quite conservative colours. It’s just been great wearing the green and gold!

Once I got that sorted, I was desperate for some chow, so we hit the food hall, where I had a huge salad, some chicken, and a steak, followed by some ice-cream! I was starving, as we missed lunch at the golf course. I say that, but I did eat out on the course like I usually do, which is about five bananas through the course of the round, along with plenty of water.

The other day I mentioned doing my stats at night, after a round. You might be interested to know that I use software called ‘Upgame’. I used to have a stats guy, but I now do it myself, inputting all the data from my round, so it can feed back to me how many strokes I’ve gained or lost off the tee, in approach play, and round the greens etc.

I know I’ve mentioned how much I would love to go and watch some other sports or do some Tokyo sightseeing, but even if I was considering breaking the rules, those thoughts were pushed far from my mind when I saw in the press that two Georgian silver medallists were told to leave the Olympic Games for taking a sightseeing trip.

As I’ve said before, leaving the athletes' village for non-Games purposes is against the rules designed to protect against Covid-19.

I’m sorry I missed the Tatjana medal celebration outside our flat in the athletes’ village last night. It’s awesome what she’s achieved, and looking at the videos I’ve received, it was amazing seeing so many team members come together for it.

There really is an incredible ‘gees’ amongst the South African athletes here, and even though I don’t know many names or many of them on sight, everyone is incredibly friendly and interested in each other’s performances.

It really has been something special to be a part of and I just want to finish strongly now with a good score on Sunday to do justice to the occasion.

Friday, 30 July - Early starts, optimism and great camaraderie

A bit of an early start for me for day two of the Olympic golf tournament.

I had to be up at 04h00 to give me enough time to wake myself up, grab a coffee, jump in the shuttle, and get to the course for my early tee time.

I wouldn’t say I’m a morning person, but I’ve certainly got used to getting up for early tee times, so I don’t mind them too much.

Once I got to Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, I grabbed some breakfast and went through my normal routine and warm-up, so all good on that front.

I think I played a bit better today, even though I was a bit up and down and shot the same score – 71. So, I’m even-par after two rounds and currently 11 shots off the lead, which is obviously not ideal, but I feel like a low one is coming soon.

My problem was just mixing too many bogeys with the birdies I made, and that just stopped me from making any moves up the leaderboard. As it is, I had five birdies, three bogeys and a double, which I had on the ninth when I lost ball in a tree.

I knew I was being inconsistent, because the scorers who follow each group with their scoreboards have red numbers for under-par scores and green for over-par, and my score just seemed to go red-green, red-green, red-green all day! I also didn’t make as many putts as I did in the first round, which obviously didn’t help.

I will have to go low over the weekend, but I think it’s possible. I just love this golf course, even though it played a bit longer today, because it was wet.

At least my team partner, Christiaan, is playing well. As I write this, he’s tied for 15th and six shots off the lead, but he still has a four-foot putt to make on the 18th before completing his second round. Unfortunately, play was suspended before he could putt. He’s also really enjoying the experience and being in village with other athletes.

In terms of the differences between this golf tournament and normal tour ones, everyone is definitely a lot more relaxed and it’s a lot of fun. There aren’t the normal things on the line, even though we all want to win a medal. Chatting with some of the other guys, that’s definitely the feeling, whether the guys are staying in hotels or staying in the athletes’ village, like Christiaan, myself and the English guys, Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood. Like us, they are loving being in the village, with the vibe there.

We all seem to agree that if we could have watched the other sports, then none of us would have played practice rounds!

Once again, I enjoyed playing with Cam Smith and Viktor Hovland. Cam and I get on really well, as I think we’re quite similar – both quite chilled and with similar interests. I also chatted to Viktor about the upcoming Ryder Cup and how excited he is to possibly be playing his first one in the next couple of months, if he qualifies or gets a captain’s pick.

After my round I stayed around to do some practice until about 16h30. It then took us two hours to get back and we headed straight to the food hall for dinner. As you’ll see in the pic, eating in the athletes’ village is a bit different, with screens between places and us having to wear gloves when dishing up food. So, it’s not very social, which is very different, I believe, from previous Olympics.

Lastly, there’s a nice ‘medal ceremony’ tonight for our gold medal winner, Tatjana, but I will unfortunately be in bed, because it’s an early start for me tomorrow.

Team SA members are going to gather in front of the building and celebrate her victory. They did something similar yesterday for surfer Bianca Buitendag, sending her off with a bit of a guard of honour, following her silver medal.

Thursday, 29 July - 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.

The two nines are quite different, actually, with more water and features on the back nine, which is perhaps a bit more interesting, whilst the front nine is a bit more straight-forward. It’s kind-of a bit more straight in front of you and you know what you’re in for. Either way, I feel like I’ve spent enough time on both nines this week to get a good feel for the course, and I definitely feel prepared.

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!