Ireland’s David Higgins returns to the Rolex Trophy this week determined to repeat his victory of the year 2000 at the Golf Club de Genève, which would not only see him overhaul Argentina’s Rafael Gomez at the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings, but also ensure a shiny new Rolex watch for his girlfriend!
The Rolex Trophy – now in its 23rd year – runs on a Pro-Am format from Thursday to Sunday, with the cut made after 54 holes. The top 33 players on the Challenge Tour Rankings plus three invites will contest the €200,000 prize fund.
Higgins has fond memories of his win in Switzerland five years ago. It was his third victory of 2000 and went some way to securing the 32 year old second place behind Sweden’s Henrik Stenson on the Challenge Tour Rankings that season.
The Irishman is in fourth position on the current Rankings, and, as he explained, he is determined to end the 2005 season as the Challenge Tour’s Number One.
Despite a barren few weeks recently, Higgins has displayed marvellous consistency throughout this season, with three top five and three further top ten finishes. He reckons that a fourth career Challenge Tour win in Genèva would go a long way to achieving his goal of finishing Number One in 2005, as well as keeping his girlfriend happy with that new watch.
“The Rolex Trophy was my third win in 2000 and I was on a good run then,” said Higgins. “I actually played that week with a new set of golf clubs because mine had gone missing at Heathrow Airport on the way to the tournament. I won with the new set of clubs so I must have been playing really well then.
“I was delighted to win, I got myself a nice Rolex watch and now I have to try and win my girlfriend one next week!
“In 2000 it came down to the last event in Cuba. I was playing with Henrik in the first two rounds and whichever one of us won there would have finished Number One. Henrik played great that week and won the tournament. It came down to that and he played better so he deserved it.
“The last few weeks have been bad for me though,” Higgins continued. “Things have gone wrong – I cracked the face of my driver, cut my hand open, all sorts of stuff just hasn’t been right. Those little things make a difference but you just have to keep going. I’ll keep fighting, but it’s just been tough the last few weeks which is all part of playing this game.
“Finishing Number One has been my goal since the start of the year. I wasn’t thinking about getting a place in the top 20. I have been really fired up to try and win the Rankings, and even though things haven’t been great for the past few weeks, I’ll get it back.”
