After bursting onto the PGA Tour scene with victory at the 2021 Palmetto Championship, it was almost four more years before Garrick Higgo secured his second title on the circuit.
Remarkably, it came in just his second start working with a new caddie, Austin Gaugert, at the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship.
But what its Gaugert’s background? And how did he land the role as the talented South African’s caddie?
Gaugert hails from Wisconsin and attended Valparaiso University between 2009 and 2013, where he played college golf on the way to earning a master's in Business, Marketing, and Sports Management.
After leaving university, he became an honor caddie at Interlachen Country Club, before becoming an assistant golf professional, first at Northmoor Country Club in Illinois, then at Blackhawk Country Club in Wisconsin.
However, in 2016 he embarked on the career he’s best known for, caddying, initially working with Jordan Niebrugge on the Web.com Tour.
By 2022, he was on the bag for Austin Smotherman, before moving on again, meaning that, by the fall of 2023, he was working with Ryan Moore.
That partnership lasted throughout the 2024 season, but eventually, Moore explained to Gaugert that, with doubts over how much he would play in 2025, he had his blessing to look for another player to caddie for.
As Gaugert recounted to Sirius XM PGA Tour, that led to a series of short partnerships, with Gaugert linking up with players including Dylan Wu, Sami Valamaki and Patrick Rodgers before his brother, Erik van Rooyen's caddie, Alex, received a text from Higgo asking if he knew anyone he could work with.
Alex put Austin’s name forward and Higgo, who had previously partnered with Tim Butler, was more than happy to work alongside him.
However, initially Gaugert wasn’t so keen, having earned enough money recently to contemplate some time away from the game.
Nevertheless, he agreed to a three-week trial with Higgo, the first tournament of which came at the Club Car Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The pair had immediate success, with Higgo finishing T3. Next on the agenda was the Corales Puntacana Championship, and this time, with Gaugert’s help, he finally clinched that elusive second PGA Tour title.
Not surprisingly, the pair have been working together ever since and, along the way, more success has followed.
In particular, the 2025 FedEx Cup Fall has seen Higgo hit a purple patch, including a T7 at the Procore Championship, runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship and T4 at the Baycurrent Classic.
That run helped Higgo reach the world’s top 100 for the first time in over three years as his career promises to scale new heights, and all with Gaugert alongside him.
