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‘My caddie was yelling at me’ – late Higgo denied US PGA leadImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Garrick Higgo is making his fourth appearance at the US PGA ChampionshipByJonathan Jurejko
South Africa’s Garrick Higgo was denied a share of the clubhouse lead at the US PGA Championship after receiving a rare two-shot penalty at the start of his first round – for arriving a minute late to the tee.
Higgo, 27, carded a double-bogey six on the opening hole as a result, but recovered with four birdies in a solid round of one-under 69 at Aronimink.
When Higgo finished his round at about 12:45 local time, he would have been tied at the top of the leaderboard with fellow South African Aldrich Potgieter had he not been punished for his tardiness.
Tournament officials stated Higgo was “not within the area defined as the starting point at his starting time”.
“I always cut it fine and this morning was pretty cold,” Higgo, who was still on the practice putting green, told Sky Sports.
“I never want to get to the tee 10 minutes before and get cold when I have to hit a driver.
“Usually I hit five putts before I go to the tee and went there thinking I had five minutes – but I obviously did not.
“I hit one putt I thought I heard my name, my caddie was yelling at me and I ran down.”
If Higgo had been five minutes late, he would have been disqualified from the second men’s major of the season.
Higgo was due to tee off at 07:18 alongside American pair Shaun Micheel and Michael Brennan at the Pennsylvania course.
Higgo arrived seconds after one of his playing partners had already hit his drive and was informed of the penalty by a rules official.
Asked if he contested the decision, Higgo stated: “I didn’t say anything – I knew I had to get myself ready. I couldn’t argue with him and then hit it out of bounds.
“I stated I’ll sort it out later.”
At the end of his round, Higgo was seen discussing his case in the clubhouse with the PGA of America – but the penalty was not overturned.
The bizarre incident came as a result of Higgo breaking the PGA of America’s local rules and terms of the competition.
Higgo was punished under Rule 5.3a which states:
The player must be ready to play at the starting time and starting point set by the committee
A starting time set by the committee is treated as an exact time – for example, 9am means 9:00:00 am, not any time until 9:01am.
Higgo being on the putting green meant he was outside of the starting point, which is defined as:
The rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines on the 10th hole
The ruling says the penalty for breaching 5.3a is disqualification, although there are three exceptions including:
Player arrives at starting point, ready to play, no more than five minutes late
Therefore Higgo, who stated he dashed to the tee but was only captured on camera casually walking as he arrived, received a general penalty of two shots.
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