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Higgins Still Carrying Head High

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Ocala, Fla. – For the past year, Joan Higgins has basked in the glow of being a USGA champion. People recognize her, she’s gained more credibility among the denizens of members at her country club and her stock has risen at every championship she competes in.

However, her biggest challenge as defending champion nearly made her shake out of her skin.

“Making it through my speech tonight!” said Higgins on Friday after getting in a final practice round on Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club.

Corey Weworski (left) was instrumental in helping Joan Higgins win last year. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

By all accounts, the 53-year-old Glendora, Calif., native hasn’t let the victory – as the oldest champion ever, mind you – go to her head. That’s not the style for the mild-mannered wife and mother of two.

After a four-hour session under the withering Florida sun, Higgins gracefully settled into one of the chairs in the media room, hot and tired from having played her final practice round. She had carried her own bag. She often carries her clubs at home, but there are more hills here, and the humidity is more intense, so she was weary. (She had a caddie when play commenced Saturday).

But there was a light in her eye and a smile on her face. She obviously loved reliving her victory last year, when she was an unknown, when she played beneath the radar of expectations.

In some ways, the victory last year at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., caught her by surprise. Her amateur career to that point had been something of a skein. Little did she know she’d find how to make her game tout enough to win through 2004 champion Corey Weworski. At the 2005 players’ dinner, Weworski imparted an inspirational speech that subliminally clicked in Higgins’ mind. Weworski pulled her aside afterward and served as a mental coach, telling her, “Joan, you can do it. You can win.”

Higgins carried that conjecture with her the next four years. Weworski’s words pierced Higgins’ mind. But they seemed to be coming from a distant place, a place that required Higgins to move toward and grasp it like a dangling carrot.

“Joan, you can do it.”

Weworski, outgoing and filled with a positive vibrance, sat inside the clubhouse Friday and beamed when told of Higgins’ recollection. There was actually a prologue to the story. Last year when Weworski exited the championship early, she left her clubs in Michigan and asked Higgins to meet her in Chicago and bring the clubs with her.

“It was there I gave her words of advice about being a champion,” said Weworski. “I told her, number one, remember you will always be a USGA champion. Hold your head up high always. People will always respect you. And, number two, no one can take it away from you.”

The year after Weworski won, she fell into the clichéd trap of putting too much pressure on herself. It wasn’t until this year that the weight of repeating has lifted, she said.

“It has carried on much longer than I ever hoped,” said Weworski. “I felt like everyone expects you to do well or win again when you’re a champion.”

Higgins, who attended the University of Wisconsin on a scholarship from 1974-78, has tried to heed the words of advice.  It hasn’t been easy.

“It’s a bit more pressure because everyone knows who you are, but until this week I hadn’t seen a lot of the mid-amateurs since I won (last year) and they’ve been very gracious with their comments,” said Higgins. “They say, ‘Awesome’ or ‘We knew you could do it,’ and some say, ‘I’m inspired,’  because I was kind of a no-name when I won.”

Higgins believes she’s prepared for whatever comes her way this week, thanks to Weworski. If she goes out early, she’ll leave with her head high. Should she become the first player to win in consecutive years since Meghan Bolger, she’ll no doubt accept the trophy again with humility and in a soft-spoken tone.

“You always have to remember that you have to act like a USGA champion,” said Higgins. “Even if you’re not having a great day, you have to act like one.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Ken Klavon is the USGA’s Editor of New Media. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org. Rhonda Glenn, USGA Manager of Communications, contributed.