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Garrick Higgo sat in the scoring tent after his first PGA Championship round in four years was over and made one final plea to tournament officials to rectify the embarrassing mistake he made to start his day.
Higgo, a South African and two-time winner on the PGA Tour, had been penalized two strokes for being late to his first-round tee time on Thursday, May 14 at Aronimink Golf Course.Higgo's group was scheduled to play the first hole at 7:18 a.m. ET. The ESPN broadcast later showed him arriving at the tee box at 7:19 a.m. He eventually carded a par that became a double-bogey 6 on his scorecard once the PGA of America announced the penalty.
"Really inexplicable," said ESPN golf commentator David Duval.
The more remarkable part might be what happened from there. Despite losing two strokes before he ever took one, Higgo finished his first round at this PGA Championship only two shots off the lead when he entered the clubhouse. The experience included Higgo's last-ditch pitch for some leniency under the premise that he was just "one second" late.
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"It is a rule and I obviously broke the rule, but it's unfortunate," Higgo told ESPN after signing his scorecard for a 1-under 69. "… One second is tough to define, but I think this should maybe be a minute's grace. There's a bunch of times on Tour we tee off 15 seconds after our tee time, just starters being a little off time or I've definitely had a few times where I've had to say to the starter it's already a minute past our time."
Higgo was on the putting green near the first tee box just before his tee time, but he was not within the area defined as the starting point at his starting time. He was penalized under Rule 5.3a. It defines the starting point as "the rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines."
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The penalty for violating the rule is disqualification unless a player arrives no more than five minutes late. Higgo was able to begin his first round at the PGA Championship due to that exception.
Higgo said he arrived later than usual to the tee box because the weather was cold for his morning start. He "was trying to stay as warm as possible coming from the range," he said. Higgo also watched as ESPN showed his final practice putt from the putting green and admitted he was "running a little bit" to get to the nearby first hole. Higgo later revealed during a post-round news conference his caddie was yelling for him to come
Before Higgo got to the tee box, a rules official alerted him about the penalty for his tardiness.
"He tells me I got a two-shot penalty straight away. It was a little unnecessary, but it's fine. It is what it is," Higgo said. "My caddie was on the tee box. I had my putter in my hand. Obviously I didn't have my watch on me. I didn't have my phone with me. I'm already in the clouds a little bit as it is, so it just is what it is. I don't know what else to do."
Higgo managed the error well, with two birdies on the front nine and two more over his final five holes. He had just one bogey on his scorecard otherwise.
The 27-year-old left-hander is a two-time PGA Tour winner aftercapturing the Corales Puntacana Championship in April 2025and entered this week ranked No. 85 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
"I think it shows a lot of mental strength the way I kept fighting," Higgo said. "It wasn't going to affect my swing or my putting."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Garrick Higgo overcomes tardiness penalty at PGA Championship
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