Greyson 'Pigeon' Sigg embraces TOUR start at Puerto Rico Open

If Keith Mitchell is correct, it won’t be hard to figure out what to expect from Greyson Sigg when he makes the jump from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR for this week’s Puerto Rico Open.

As Sigg’s college teammate (University of Georgia) and fellow St. Simons Island resident, Mitchell, who has played on TOUR for the last four seasons, always knows what to expect when they play together. He just never understands how it comes so easy.

“He hits a five-yard draw with every single club throughout the bag, and he hits it dead straight and doesn’t try to do it. His natural game is perfect,” Mitchell said incredulously. “Not everybody wakes up and just hits it perfect like Greyson. A lot of people have to actually try to do that, but he just wakes up out of bed and he hits a five-yard draw.”

It’s a five-yard draw with control, too. Mitchell said Sigg is “the straightest ball hitter I know,” and joked that when he gets on TOUR next year, he won’t have to ask any of the Georgia guys for advice on course management because he hits it so straight that he won’t have to worry about it. Sepp Straka, who also played with Sigg at Georgia and is now on TOUR, doesn’t disagree.

“Greyson’s a stud. He stripes it, absolutely stripes it. Doesn’t miss many shots. He hits it really straight off the tee. Scary straight. And pretty far for a little guy,” Straka said. “Then his chipping is great. All-around, he’s just a good golfer.”

Sigg could only chuckle when told that Mitchell said he could roll out of bed and hit a five-yard draw. It’s not the first time he’s heard that sentiment.

“That sounds like something our assistant coach at Georgia used to say. He’d be like, ‘Pigeon, all you have to do is wake up, roll out of bed and you’re going to do what you do,’” Sigg said. “I’ve just been a consistent ball striker. That’s all I can say to that. I seem to always hit it pretty well. It’s just been a really good part of my game the last couple of years.”

Each freshman on the Georgia men’s golf team gets a nickname. Just as his ball-striking has traveled from college to the Korn Ferry Tour, so has the nickname “Pigeon” – at least among his Georgia teammates.

“One of the guys on the team was like, ‘You look like a Pigeon.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t look like a pigeon. That’s not very cool, like, what does that mean?’ And, of course after I said that, that was the worst thing I could have said, right? Because they’re like, ‘Oh you’re getting defensive!’ And it stuck of course,” Sigg said with a laugh. “So that’s just how I’m known to those guys as Pigeon. So that’s the nickname that stuck with me.”

Often at Georgia, it was Sigg not only providing the five-yard draws but also the laughs.

“He’s probably one of the funniest guys in the world,” said Straka, who lived next door to Sigg in college. “Everything he does or says just somehow turns out funny. I don’t know what it is, but he can make a funny situation out of anything.”

Whether it’s difficult to be stressed when one hits it as straight as Sigg is up for debate, but what’s not is how carefree and laid-back he is at all times – both on the course and off. That’s innate, but it’s also by design.

“I’m very laid-back. I like to have the attitude where deep down I care, but on the outside, I don’t care because the more relaxed I am and the more so that I don’t care, the better I tend to play,” Sigg said. “Because the harder I try, the worse I play, I’ve come to find out over the years. So, I like to pretend I don’t care and just try to have as carefree of a mindset as possible.”

It’s clearly working. Sigg, who recently got an English Cream Retriever puppy – “Bean” – with his girlfriend, opened the 2021 portion of the Korn Ferry Tour’s wraparound season with a T7 at last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic. He has now finished in the top-25 in 15 of 21 starts and ranks sixth on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

He’ll make his fourth career TOUR start in Puerto Rico after finishing in the top-10 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points Standings through last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance. Sigg is elated for the opportunity.

“I think it’s huge. I think it speaks to the volume of how good the players are on the Korn Ferry Tour,” Sigg said. “You look at what Will Zalatoris has done this year. They did the same type of deal in the U.S. Open for a few of us (on the Korn Ferry Tour), and he took advantage of it and ran with it. I think it just speaks volumes to how good the Korn Ferry Tour guys are and for the PGA TOUR to give us a chance to come out here and show them what we’re made of, it’s a very cool opportunity.”

Although Sigg certainly plans to spend some time this week “sitting on the beach under a palm tree with a beer in my hand,” he’s not there just to enjoy the Puerto Rican relaxation and a one-week call-up to the PGA TOUR.

“I’m going to go out there and try to win and do everything I can do to win,” Sigg said. “I’m not going to go out there and just try to make the cut.”