Garrick Higgo spent roughly 20 minutes in discussion with PGA Championship officials after being hit with a two-stroke penalty at Aronimink Golf Club.
The South African arrived about a minute late for his tee time – 7.18am ET – during Thursday’s opening round and was instantly informed that a penalty would be applied. Despite the rough start, he managed to put it behind him and stayed composed enough to finish the round under par.
The 27-year-old left-hander carded a par on the opening hole, which ultimately went down as a double-bogey six. However, he bounced back with four birdies to sign for a one-under-par 69, placing him inside the top-20 at Aronimink.
His ability to reset stood in contrast to Bryson DeChambeau, who also struggled early and let his round unravel. After completing his round, Higgo made his way to the scoring building, where he engaged in an extended exchange with officials, challenging the ruling and requesting proof that he had been late.
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Speaking to ESPN, Higgo delivered a somewhat unclear explanation. He said: “I mean, the rule is if you’re one second late, you’re late. I was obviously there on time, but late, and that’s a two-shot penalty, and you have five minutes then until you’re DQ’d.
“I guess I could have taken five minutes longer or just under that. Obviously, it’s unfortunate. I usually cut it fine. It was cold this morning and I wanted to be as warm as possible coming from the range, so I think it shows a lot of mental strength the way I kept fighting. It wasn’t going to affect my swing or my putting.”
The PGA of America has not provided further comment since releasing an earlier statement confirming Higgo had breached Rule 5.3. and received a two-stroke penalty.
“Garrick Higgo, from South Africa, was penalised two strokes for being late to the tee during round one of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania,” the statement read.
“Higgo was on the practice putting green but was not within the area defined as the starting point at his starting time.”
When asked whether he agreed with the decision, Higgo responded: “Probably not, but it’s fine. I was late. It’s tough, one second is hard to define.
View 2 ImagesGarrick Higgo ended the opening round strongly despite being punished for being a minute late to his tee(Image: Getty Images)
“I feel like there should maybe be a minute’s grace because there’s a bunch of times on tour we tee off 15 seconds after our tee time with starters just being a little bit off time. I’ve definitely had a few times I’ve had to say to the starter it’s already a minute past our time.”
He added: “I’m super proud [of how I coped with it]. I think a lot of guys would have shot a lot after what happened.”
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