Augusta, Georgia. – Anne Highsmith was in mid-Vings when a few friends stopped in her place in Tacoma, Washington, and invited her to play golf. Luckily, her mother’s clubs were in the trunk, so she scored. Nine holes later, she was hung. Highsmith Hightail at its local golf store and bought a set of irons. Soon, she was a regular, completing the random weekends of weekends as a single until she joins Tacoma Country and Golf Club, one of the oldest clubs in the North West Pacific.
Highsmith met her husband, Chris, on the first tee in Tacoma. They went out together for six months before offering Pebble Beach, where they could later have a honeymoon. When Anne was pregnant with her second son, the couple went out to practice a beautiful spring day. She had struck a bullet, then had a contraction.
His Joe was born later the same day.
“I can talk about golf for hours,” said Anne, who had shopping for friends and family who fly across the country for Joe’s beginnings in the 89th Masters tournament.
Anne’s parents, who are 91 and 89 years old, come on Tuesday. Joe and his older brother Sam invited eight from their high school friends, who will be released on Wednesday during the course.
Growing up, the Highsmith family treated the masters on Sunday as a national holiday. Anne did not sleep for a week after her 24 -year -old son won her first PGA Tour event to guarantee the invitation.
“I really don’t know how to put it in words,” said Joe on what it means to be one of the 21 players who make their Masters made his debut. “It’s going to be incredible.”
The first time Joe played Augusta National by a cold winter day, he hit the driver’s driver in the 15 to 8 feet. After years looking at all the old images he could find on YouTube, he now prepares his own high -storage coil. Three weeks ago, he played 36 holes in a day with brother Sam and pepperdine head coach Michael Beard. In the coming days, he will play a round of training with Fred Couples, a near mentor, and will have a seated with Jack Nicklaus.
Beard first spotted Highsmith at an AJGA event in Tacoma before being old enough to drive and was struck by the pure swing of the left -hander: “It just seemed that he had the gift.”
Quick advance about 10 years later – after a national team title in Pepperdine and a short and success on the Korn Ferry Tour – and Highsmith, in his 34th PGA Tour Start, became a winner of Cognizant Classic in a dramatic way. The 64 consecutive during the weekend at the National PGA made him the first player in nine years to win a tournament after having cup of the number.
Mom was supposed to go to the turn this Sunday but canceled her flight.
“She has been my no. 1 supporter over the years,” said Highsmith, “never missed a tournament.”
On the Highsmith bag was Joe Lacava IV, son of the legendary Caddy Joe Lacava, who died for Fred couples when he won the 1992 masters and when Tiger Woods won in Augusta in 2019.
The victory earned Highsmith a place in the Masters championship, PGA and the remaining signature events in 2025. It is also exempt from the tour until 2027. Highsmith’s wage day of $ 1656,000 meant that he had not had to worry about Florida at around $ 500 for the Orland for Arnold Palmer.
Originally planned to play in the field opposed to Puerto Rico Open, Highsmith welcomed the change of last minute plans, not to mention the increase in confidence.
“It is not as if he wondered:” How will I have a chance this week? ” Said Beard. “He knows in a way what to do, and now it’s just a question of him.”
After Highsmith won the cognizant, he sent to Bearb an SMS saying that he had deposited him as coach for the masters. It is not uncommon for both to speak several times a week when he is in competition.
Back in Pepperdine, Highsmith one day worked on his swing when Beard asked him a question: Joe, do you want to have a good swing, or do you want to be a good player?
This question began an approach trip to the game in a different way. There was a belief, said Beard, that if he was sworn properly or had the right, he is behaving in a weak score. Beard wanted him to draw from some intangible assets of the game.
During the national championship in 2021, they ranked each time on how he was clear with what he wanted to do rather than the result.
“If you focus only on what you really want, really and what it looks like, fear will eventually disappear,” said Beard. “You focus so much about overwhelming fear with clarity and commitment that you didn’t even know that your swing did exactly what you wanted to do.”
Highsmith had fundamentally such a good foundation that Beard thought that this approach could pass his game to the next level. Known for a long time for his ball, the Highsmith of last season has become the first revision player to do three ASs in a PGA Tour season.
On Friday in Cognizant, Highsmith faced a five-foot sliding putt that would send him to the weekend. He called it the worst type of putt.
“The Greens were so cooked and bumpy, and it was right to the left, in a way falling,” he said. “Just a super summary putt. I hate putts from right to left because I tend to wipe them or block them a little.
“I had already been in ruin under the cutting pressure. I think I had bogey two of the last five or something, I did a few pars, and of course, I ended up with this five feet just to make the cup. … I just tried to make sure, at least, I got involved in it. I didn’t want me to know that I went to the last putt on Friday, so I got involved.
A month later, Highsmith distributes 12 tickets a day to friends and family to watch him contribute to Augusta National.
Given the way he came to the world, it is almost as if he was intended for this.
