In the kitchen of Harry Higgs’ childhood home in Kansas, his mom, Denise, has a batch of chocolate chip cookies sitting on the counter. They’re famous enough – well, as famous as a chocolate chip cookie can be – to be packed up and brought across the country when mom visited son as he chased his dream to the PGA TOUR.

Higgs’ favorite meal is buffalo chicken – with tater tots and Brussels sprouts, of all things – and he admits growing up he could put the exact same ingredients on a sandwich but it wouldn’t taste near as good as when his mom made it.

A dash of home cooking has helped Higgs achieve his dream – a PGA TOUR card – but he couldn’t have reached this point, he says, without the support of his family.

Harry Higgs grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and his parents Mike and Denise, who were on-site to see his win at the Price Cutter Charity Championship this summer, still keep their home filled with love.

They travel a lot to see him on the road, and plan to do more of the same next year on the PGA TOUR, and usually Denise has a batch of those cookies in tow.

“There were a few times this year where she’s flown in or driven in, and she’s had the cookies in her carry-on,” says Higgs with a laugh. “She has a sweet tooth, but we’ve had them all year for sure.”

Perhaps fueled by that home cooking, Higgs finished T2 at the KC Golf Classic in May, a tournament less than 10 miles from his parents’ house. It was his best result of the season to that point, but he rattled off two more top-10s before adding a win in Springfield, Missouri – again, an event that was close to home.

That victory secured him a spot in The 25, and the 2018 PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit winner had locked up a TOUR card for the first time.

He got to do it front of his family, too.

“I was just overwhelmed,” says Denise. “You’re just so proud that your son, or anyone you love, is living their dream. It’s just an incredible feeling.

“To see them accomplish that, especially since they’ve worked so hard – it’s incredible.”

As Mike and Denise look ahead to their son’s big career leap, they also are able to look back fondly on how he got to this point.

Mike, who works for a healthcare company, travels a lot for business. He usually ends up booking a flight to see Harry versus flying home, which results in some comical exchanges between father and son.

“My dad turned to me the other week and said, ‘I think I need a week off,’” said Higgs with a laugh. “I’m looking at him and saying, ‘I’d love one too.’”

Denise, meanwhile, doesn’t work anymore. But she’s the rock of the family, Higgs explains, in a house full of boys.

“The support I’ve had … it’s my entire life,” Higgs says. “When you get to 27 years old and you’re like, ‘Oh, damn, my parents knew what they were talking about all along.’ They gave me an unbelievable life to do whatever I want.”

Reflecting back on when Harry was growing up, Mike says his son was always good on the golf course, but his mental preparedness was the thing he needed to work on in order to get to the next level.

Through high school, Mike says, he saw that drive to advance.

“That was something we saw with him when he played high school golf. The mechanics of the swing and the motion and the swing he had were always there,” says Mike. “For him, it was the mental side and the drive and the passion.”

For Denise, she says it was when Harry went to SMU – to become a teammate of Bryson DeChambeau, no less – when she realized her son had a real chance to make golf the thing he was going to choose as his life’s passion.

He believed he could do it then, Denise says, and even though he had to go a long way from her cooking – through PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and various mini-tours – there was always a thought in both Mike and Denise’s head that their son Harry could become a member of the PGA TOUR.

July 28, 2019, was a day nobody from the Higgs family will forget anytime soon.

Harry Higgs had played well through 54 holes at the Price Cutter Charity Championship but not well enough, as Grant Hirschman led by one.

Higgs would go on to shoot a 5-under 67 on Sunday, though, while Hirschman shot even-par. Hirschman was leapfrogged by Higgs, who won by two shots and in the process earned a PGA TOUR card.

His parents were there to witness it all, and Mike says it was so exciting to see Harry accomplish one of the big goals he had at the beginning of the year.

He says in 2018 he wanted to finish first on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit, which he did, and this year he wanted to win an event and earn his TOUR card.

“Here’s someone who has been playing golf since he was 6 years old and he has achieved his dream,” says Mike.

Higgs says the win and the corresponding media coverage resulted in Denise getting recognized around Overland Park.

“My mom, a couple days after I won, says, ‘Harry, I’m famous now! I’m getting people in the grocery store stopping me now,’” he says. “And I said, ‘That’s perfect. If you’re the one who gets fame, that’s awesome.’”

Fame, says Higgs, is a bit of an abstract concept.

He doesn’t think he is famous, but if he achieves the goals he has set out for the next phase in his career, in a way, he would be.

Two weeks ago, a father of two young golf fans gave him a heartfelt thank-you after he spent a little extra time signing things for his kids.

“I looked at him and I was like, ‘Dude, it’s weird for me. I just figured no one would ever want me to write my signature on a piece of paper or a golf ball.’ That part (of fame) is different,” he says. “I don’t envision that changing my approach to golf, but I don’t think I’m famous now.”

He’d love to just go about his business and fly under the radar as one of the best players in the world. He’s still getting adjusted to people being thrilled at the opportunity to see and talk to him – just a regular guy from Kansas with regular problems.

“I just got on a call with a tax accountant the other day and I didn’t know making money was so difficult,” he says with a laugh.

As Higgs looks to the start of his PGA TOUR career, he carries the attitude of a winner.

“Even when he was on the mini-tours, he had this irrational amount of confidence,” says Higgs’ brother Alex, who also played collegiate golf at SMU. “His game has matched up to his confidence now. It can be easy to be intimidated out there, but in his head at least he thinks he can beat anybody.”

When told what his brother said, Harry Higgs laughed and said he always felt like he was better than he actually was.

“I’m not going to go up to Justin Thomas and tell him I’d beat his brains in,” says Higgs. “My thing was, the last couple years, I’ve had a better understanding of what I did well and what I lacked. If I was feeling like I wasn’t going to hit a great shot, I’d find a solution. That would make me more confident, and it’s an internal confidence – but to my brother and friends it’d be a little more audible.”

For Mike and Denise, they’re happy to see their son have success to this point, but have some parental advice to pass along, too.

Although Harry has enough confidence to buoy him through the difficult waters of the PGA TOUR, Mike is hopeful Harry will stay humble.

“He can compete inside the ropes … we know that. But one thing I try to encourage him with is to try to be a gentleman, respect the game, and conduct himself well outside the ropes,” he says.

Denise, meanwhile, wants him to stay patient.

“The more patient he is with himself, the more I’ve seen him play well,” she says.

So Denise and Mike and Alex will now watch Harry achieve his dream of earning a PGA TOUR card with love and support (and cookies, too) and will be there every step of the way to cheer him on.

But Harry says they’ve already done more than he could ever imagine possible.

“I don’t know if I appreciated it enough. It’s insane how much they did for me. The older you get, you see it more and more,” he says. “They’re super proud that I got to achieve my dreams, but I can’t say it enough: I’ll never be able to repay them. It’s not possible without them.”