Memphis collapse

At the 2010 St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee, Garrigus, playing in the final group, had a three-shot lead going into the 72nd hole, a long par four. He pulled his tee shot into the water hazard which flanks the hole's left side. After taking a penalty drop a long way back, he hit his third shot straight left, caught a tree left of the hazard and fell straight down. He punched out to the fairway and hit his fifth shot onto the green, within 35 feet of the hole. He two-putted from there, resulting in a triple bogey 7. A three-way sudden-death playoff with Lee Westwood and Robert Karlsson then began. On the first hole they played, the 18th, Garrigus's drive carried too far and came to rest against the trunk of a tree, right of the fairway. He chipped out and hit his third shot to 12 feet. His par putt lipped out and he made bogey. Karlsson and Westwood both made par, eliminating Garrigus, who finished tied for second place. The playoff was eventually won by Westwood, who birdied the fourth sudden-death hole.

Orlando victory

Needing a high finish to earn his tour card for 2011, he entered the final day 13 under par and five shots behind the leader Roland Thatcher and one behind first-round leader Chris Stroud at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in suburban Orlando, Florida. Thatcher had reached 21-under in his third round, before a double bogey, bogey finish. After five birdies in his first seven holes, Garrigus caught Thatcher, who had parred his first seven holes.. Thatcher extended his lead with three birdies around the turn, before a bogey on twelve, as Garrigus in the group in front birdied thirteen, moving the pair level again. After Thatcher bogeyed sixteen, Garrigus held the solo lead in a tournament for the first time since Memphis. A further two-shot swing on the 17th, where Garrigus made birdie-3 to Thatcher's bogey-5, followed by a final-hole par, sealed his first professional win, by three strokes. With the victory, Garrigus earned an exemption on the PGA Tour through the end of the 2012 season. Prior to the tournament, Garrigus was 179th on the Tour, which would have meant a loss of his Tour card. Thatcher finished second.

On overcoming substance abuse

Immediately after finishing his final round in Orlando, Garrigus spoke openly in a television interview on the Golf Channel, about his triumph over substance abuse, his subsequent improved play, and his joy at closing out the season with a tournament victory, which made up for his struggles at the Memphis tournament earlier in the season.^[9]

In an article that appeared in Golf Digest in July 2011, Garrigus admitted that during the 2002 season, he and several other golfers on the Web.com Tour (then the Buy.com Tour) smoked marijuana during events:^[7]

"Oh yeah, there were plenty of guys on the Nationwide Tour who smoked in the middle of the round. We always talked about it. You could go in the Porta John and take your drags."

In 2003, he entered a rehabilitation center near San Diego for a 45-day program. His newfound sobriety was almost immediately tested. Before entering rehab, he had left money for his roommate to keep the house and pay bills. The roommate instead used it for drugs and gambling; when Garrigus returned the night before he was to play in a sectional qualifier for the U.S. Open, he found the locks changed and the electricity disconnected. The roommate had left town to avoid gambling debts, leaving behind a substantial quantity of marijuana and a note reading, "Hope rehab was great. Have fun." As Garrigus would say,^[7]

"I stood there for a minute, and then I grabbed the weed and threw it in the garbage. Then I took the refrigerator and threw it out with the chicken, everything. I called the electric company to get them to turn on the power. When I wake up the next morning, I didn't realize until I get to the golf course that my roommate had been using my putter. So I race back to the house at 140 miles per hour, get my putter, race back just in time for my tee time. I have no warm-up, no caddie, and my clubs are on a pull cart. I shoot 70 and miss by two shots. I told myself that wasn't too bad after 45 days without hitting a ball. I knew then I was going to be OK."