Joe Highsmith went from the cutline to the winner’s circle.
The 24-year-old Highsmith shot a pair of 7-under 64s on the weekend at PGA National’s Champion Course to win the 2025 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches by two strokes and become the first player in nine years to make the cut on the number and hoist a tournament trophy two days later.
Highsmith rolled in a 20-foot birdie at the water-laden par-3 17th on Sunday to cap off a bogey-free 64 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and a 72-hole total of 19-under 265 to earn his first PGA Tour title.
Highsmith snuck into the weekend with rounds of 65-72. Despite having what he described as “a really bad warmup,” he caught fire on Saturday with the short stick.
“I putted as good as I ever have before and then some for sure,” he said after his third-round 64. “It was crazy to see all those putts drop.”
Highsmith wasn’t the only one to earn his first victory on the Tour. Joe LaCava Jr., whose father has carried for Fred Couples and Tiger Woods during wins at the Masters among others, was on the bag for Highsmith, a Pepperdine grad.
Highsmith was just happy not to have an early Sunday tee time. Last season, he finished No. 110 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, recording three top-10s and 13 made cuts in 26 starts. His claim to fame before his victory is becoming the first player on record (since 1983) in Tour history to record three aces in a season, making a hole-in-one at The American Express, Rocket Mortgage Classic and Wyndham Championship.
Highsmith erased a four-stroke deficit heading into the final round. This tournament belonged to Jake Knapp, who had held the lead all week since shooting 59 on Thursday, until he made a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 11th. He shot 1-over 72 and finished T-6.
Jacob Bridgeman matched Highsmith with 64 for the low round of the day and shared second with J.J. Spaun. Highsmith became the first player to make the 36-hole cut on the number and win the tournament since Brandt Snedeker at the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open and just the sixth to do so since 2003.
NBC reported that Highsmith’s mother had a 3 p.m. flight booked but ended up canceling and gave her son a victory kiss after he completed his round. Kevin Kisner noted that Highsmith’s mom had told him that she had her flying clothes on and would have to change. “Looks like she did,” Kisner said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Joe Highsmith caught fire on the weekend to win his 1st PGA Tour title
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