Garrick Higgo was hit with a two-stroke penalty at the PGA Championship after arriving late to his first-round tee time, turning an already awkward start into a round he still managed to salvage. He was scheduled to tee off at 7:18 a.m. with Michael Brennan and Shaun Micheel, but the broadcast showed Higgo arriving at 7:19 a.m., after his starting time had passed.
The penalty left Higgo, a two-time PGA TOUR winner making his fourth PGA Championship appearance, to grind through the rest of the round and finish with a 1-under 69. He opened with a double bogey at the first hole, then steadied himself with birdies at Nos. 3 and 9 to get back to even par before the added penalty was applied.
The PGA of America announced the penalty, which fell under Rule 5.3 of the Rules of Golf. The rule gives a player a two-stroke penalty for arriving no more than five minutes late to a tee time, while arriving more than five minutes late brings disqualification. Higgo was on the putting green, but not within the area defined as the starting point when his group was due to begin.
Higgo did not try to hide the mistake. He said he was trying to stay as warm as possible and acknowledged that he had been late, adding that his caddie was yelling at him to get to the tee. He also said he was trying to gather evidence and that anyone else would have done the same, while insisting he believed he was there on time even if the rule says a player is late by one second. He described himself as very casual and laid back, saying he does not want to be there 10 minutes early and thought five minutes was fine.
The episode matters because the rule leaves almost no room for argument once the clock turns. Higgo was close enough to avoid disqualification, but late enough to absorb a penalty before a major championship round had really begun. For a player still searching for his first top-40 finish in any major, the first-round scorecard showed both the damage and the recovery: a costly start, a fight back, and a result that kept him in the tournament despite the lapse.
