Joe Highsmith on earning PGA Tour card for 2024: 'Special moment'
Joe Highsmith combed through all of his pressure-packed moments in golf, from winning a WIAA individual title at Bellarmine Prep, to becoming the youngest champion of the Washington State Men's Amateur - and even capturing an NCAA Division I men's team title at Pepperdine University.
None of them hinged so delicately on a shot-to-shot basis as the final two weekends on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour's primary developmental circuit.
Sitting well off the pace in the points standings, Highsmith charged back with a pair of top-three finishes to finish 18th - and well inside the top 30 needed to earn PGA Tour membership for the 2024 season.
The 23-year-old from Lakewood is now the South Sound's newest member on professional golf's biggest tour, joining current regulars University Place's Andrew Putnam (Life Christian Academy), Puyallup's Ryan Moore (Cascade Christian/Puyallup) and Gig Harbor's Kyle Stanley (Bellarmine Prep), as well as recent retirees Andres Gonzales (Capital), of Olympia, and University Place's Michael Putnam (Life Christian Academy/Curtis).
"It is pretty sweet," Highsmith said. "Those are all guys I looked up to as celebrities ... when I was 10, 11 and 12 years old.
"Now I just got on the tour and haven't done anything yet like those guys. But to get to the PGA Tour at 23 years old is pretty crazy. I don't even know what to think yet, it is all so new."
At the end of September, Highsmith was 48th on the points list with two tournaments to go.
Before the start of the penultimate Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Ohio, the tour rookie knew he had to win a tournament - or at least produce two top-five finishes to close the gap.
"Needed to go all or nothing," he said.
In contention in Ohio, Highsmith sank a late birdie putt in his final round that not only helped secure a runner-up finish, but that one putt moved him from 48th to 27th in points.
"There was so much (points-earning) volatility going on, I was always a couple of golf swings away from not getting my PGA Tour card," Highsmith said.
In last week's season finale at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana, Highsmith hit a drive out of bounds in the final round and made double bogey at the eighth hole to fall back to 1-under.
"That was a turning point for me," Highsmith said. "I realized if you make wishy, guide-y swings, you will get in trouble all day.
"I knew if I didn't get in my own way, or get scared ... I would be just fine."
Highsmith responded with an eagle-3 at the ninth hole, then birdied the next hole, also a par 5, to regain control of his round. He finished with a 6-under 66 - matching the day's score - to tie for third in the tournament.
Knowing he clinched his PGA Tour card walking off the finishing green, he immediately found his parents, Chris and Anne, and hugged them - relieved it was all over.
"The emotion was pretty crazy," Highsmith said. "Realizing the whole year comes down to a couple of shots down the stretch - I don’t think anyone enjoys that feeling."
Afterward, Highsmith said at least 150 congratulatory text messages were awaiting him, including ones from the Putnam brothers and Gonzales, and even Seattle native Fred Couples.
As far as his first start as a PGA Tour member, Highsmith thinks that will come at the Sony Open in Hawaii on January 11-14. It is also where the new tour-member orientation will be held.
And where will he call his second home? Or who will be his PGA Tour caddie? Highsmith isn't sure yet on those important decisions.
He is just now unwinding from an unbelievable amount of finding-a-way-to-the-PGA Tour stress.
"You feel the same kinds of things trying to win the (Washington State Amateur) in Tacoma, or a high school state title, or an AJGA invitational or NCAAs," Highsmith said, "It's always the same pressure. But with this, the stakes were a million times higher."
