Palm Beach Gardens, Florida – Joe Highsmith claims his first PGA Tour victory in Florida at the 2025 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. Highsmith made history this week with his win as he was the first player to win after making the cut on number since 2016.
While it’s hard to say that any field is weak on the PGA Tour, many of today’s stars chose to take the week off including world number one Scottie Scheffler and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. It was most likely in preparation for next weeks Arnold Palmer Invitational.
However, this week saw a continued improvement from the likes of Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. Spieth is still trying to regain some form after recovering from wrist surgery while Fowler has been absent from leaderboards for quite some time. Spieth and Fowler opened their weeks with a 65 and 64, respectively. Spieth finished with a top 10 and Fowler a top 20.
While this week’s winner Joe Highsmith is certainly not a household name, you may have heard of Joe Lacava IV. Joe is the son of Patrick Cantlay’s caddie and former caddie of Tiger Woods – Joe Lacava III. Joe comes with a ton of experience and Highsmith was sure to credit the role his caddie played in his success during his post win pressers.
Highsmith had to rely heavily on his caddie too as his path to victory was not an easy one. He had a good round of 65 on Thursday but followed that up with a one over 72 which put him near the cut line. He obviously made the cut but it was huge uphill climb to get back to the top. Drawing on his caddies experience and digging deep on his past successes and failures, Highsmith went on to shoot a pair of 64s on Saturday and Sunday. Coming to his 72nd hole, he needed a five footer for par to clinch his first PGA Tour win which he did with authority.
This win will gain him massive exemptions including The Masters which is only a month away. Next week, the PGA Tour heads over to Orlando for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Joe Highsmith’s What’s In The Bag:
Driver: Titleist GT3 8 degrees (Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 60 6.5)
3-wood: Titleist GT3 15 degrees (Project X HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 70 6.5 TX)
Irons: Titleist T200 (2), Titleist T100 (4-9) (Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 80 HY 6.5 (2), Project X LS 6.5 (4-9))
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-14F, 58-04T) (True Temper AMT Tour White S400 (46-54), S300 (58))
Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M Tour Prototype
Ball: 2025 Titleist Pro V1
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