{"id":502373,"date":"2026-05-14T21:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502373"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:24:23","slug":"hilarious-error-costs-rookie-pga-championship-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502373","title":{"rendered":"Hilarious error costs rookie PGA Championship lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garrick Higgo found out in the PGA Championship<\/a> if you're not early, you're late.<\/p>\n

Higgo arrived on the first tee box at what he estimated to be 30 seconds after his listed tee time and was assessed a two-stroke penalty.<\/p>\n

His first swing of the championship turned out to be his third because of the penalty.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Incredible' moment star saves Origin moments after injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Player ratings: 'Disappointing' star goes quiet in narrow loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sam Kerr exit from Chelsea confirmed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The South African still managed a 1-under 69, even though he could only wonder how easily that could have been a 67, the low score of the morning wave.<\/p>\n

If not for the penalty he would now be tied at the top of the leaderboard with Aussie star Min Woo Lee<\/a>, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, and Ryo Hisatsun\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there on time,\u201d Higgo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the rule is if you\u2019re one second late, you\u2019re late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to tee off at Aronimink Golf Club at 7.18am (local time), he was told as he arrived he had been penalised.<\/p>\n

\"Garrick<\/p>\n

The rules state a golfer must be on the tee box and ready to play at the assigned time, regardless of the order. He was third to play.<\/p>\n

Higgo said it's the first time he's been penalised for being late to the tee box. The good news? If he had been five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a surprise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old kept his composure and went on to \u201cpar\u201d the opening hole, but his 4 became a 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it wasn\u2019t great,\u201d he said of being penalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I firstly had to get a driver, and I have to hit a tee shot. It was OK. I just kind of focused on what I need to do… I wasn\u2019t going to give up and shoot 80. There was only one thing that I could do, and that was make birdies and pars and hit it where I wanted to hit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Higgo said the whole episode made him focus on making birdies in the first round. He did just that, finishing with four birdies and a bogey for a 69.<\/p>\n

He attempted to argue his case to officials after the round, to no avail. He even had the support of his playing partners. He said he believed he was within the time limit, yet conceded he might have been a bit tardy and grudgingly accepted his fate.<\/p>\n

\"Garrick<\/p>\n

He attributed it to his casual approach to being late, though he's not the type who arrives 10 minutes early. He said he could have added time for his walk from the range to the putting green and ultimately the first tee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was obviously too casual,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Higgo managed to erase the two-stroke penalty on the front nine. He rolled in a birdie putt from about 35 feet on the par-4 third hole and made a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 ninth to get back to even par.<\/p>\n

After a bogey at the 10th, Higgo made birdie on the two par-3 holes on the back nine, with a 27-foot putt at the 14th and hitting to just over five feet and making the putt at the 17th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played great, made a lot of good swings, made some good putts,\u201d said Higgo, who has two PGA Tour victories and six international wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid everything that I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garrick Higgo found out in the PGA Championship if you're not early, you're late. Higgo arrived on the first tee box at what he estimated […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=502373"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502378,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502373\/revisions\/502378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}