On the eve of the Cadence Bank Houston Open, we're taking a closer look at the lefties making their way down to Houston and teeing it up at the beautiful Memorial Park Golf Course.
The first lefty feature is Walker Lee. The Houston, Texas native is making his professional debut this week after finishing a storied career at Texas A&M, which included multiple All-American honors. Lee had the chance to compete in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills as an amateur, so he will try to bring some of that experience to Memorial Park this week. This is going to be a special week for Lee as he makes his pro debut in his hometown with the support of his family and friends surely to be in the gallery. If Lee can make the cut and be in the mix come Saturday, it could be a feel-good story that the golf world won’t be able to ignore.
Next up is lefty Garrick Higgo, who hails originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. He attended UNLV and turned pro after his sophomore year in 2019. Higgo has three wins on European Tour and one on the PGA Tour, in just his second career start in 2021. So far, this season has been a bit of a roller coaster, missing the cut in three of the five events he’s played, while finishing T3 and T29 in the other two starts. Higgo was 55th on the PGA Tour in total putting along with 42nd in strokes gained around the green during the 2021-22 season. Those two statistics should bode well for Higgo getting around Memorial with the difficult green complexes and executing the shots required around the greens this week.
The last lefty to highlight this week is Hank Lebioda, an alternate in the field from from Orlando, Florida. He played his collegiate golf at Florida State University where he was a two-time All American and named the ACC Player of the Year in 2016. He turned pro later that year in 2016 and began his career on PGA Tour Canada. His lone professional win came in 2017 at the Mackenzie Investments Open. He’s been a member of the PGA Tour since the 2018-2019 season and so far in this year he has been cut in his first two starts on the year. Lebioda, if he makes the field, will look to right the ship in Houston.
Being a resident of Houston and getting the chance to play Memorial Park on a regular basis will make this week’s experience a special one. The field is a solid one, including 27 players ranked in the OWG Top 100 Rankings. Leftee Golf will be taking in all the action starting tomorrow and into the weekend.
See you at Memorial.
- SM
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