NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Golf is hard. Golf is harder when you don’t show up on time.
Garrick Higgo was penalized two strokes for being late for his 7:18 a.m. tee time to start the PGA Championship. According to the PGA of America, Higgo was on the practice green, not within the area defined as Aronimink’s first tee at his starting time. The area between the practice green and the first tee at Aronimink is crowded, but certainly navigable, especially with enough time.
When Higgo did walk onto the first tee, a rules official approached him, telling him he was about a minute late to his tee time and that he would be penalized two strokes.
Here is how the PGA of America explained the penalty:
The player must start at (and not before) their starting time:
● This means that the player must be ready to play at the starting time and starting point set by the (tournament organizing) Committee.
● A starting time set by the Committee is treated as an exact time (for example, 9 am means 9:00:00 am, not any time until 9:01 am).
It could have been worse for Higgo; showing up five minutes late to your tee time means disqualification. After the double-bogey start (thanks to the two-stroke penalty), Higgo got it back to even par by the turn.
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Higgo, the 85th-ranked player in the world, has won twice on the PGA Tour, most recently in April 2025 at the Corales Puntacana Championship. He’s played in the PGA Championship three times, with his best finish, T55, coming last year at Quail Hollow.
