Just days after he was late for his tee time at Aronimink, Garrick Higgo is moving on from his caddie.
Higgo split with caddie Austin Gaugert on Monday, according to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak. He has since hired Nick Cavendish-Pell, who he has worked with in the past. Cavendish-Pell will be on the bag for Higgo this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Dallas.
While no reason was given for the split, and moves like this happen often on the PGA Tour, the decision came just days after Higgo was penalized for showing up late for the opening round of the PGA Championship.
Higgo was late arriving to the tee at Aronimink Golf Club on Thursday for the first round of the major championship, which resulted in a two-shot penalty. Higgo was just a minute late, but Gaugert was seen on video yelling at Higgo to hurry up from the tee box.
Had he been more than five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.
“I was late,” he said after the round. “I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee.”
Higgo ended up shooting a 3-under in the first round, but the penalty dropped him to 1-under on the day. That had him two shots off the lead at the time. He ended up missing the cut on Friday, but would have been safely into the weekend without that penalty.
Higgo tried to meet with tournament officials after the round, looking for an explanation while acknowledging that he was both late, but also on time.
“I was there on time, but the rule is, if you are one second late, you’re late,” he said. When asked to explain, he responded, “I was there at 7:18 and 30 seconds.”
Higgo has won twice on the PGA Tour in his career, most recently at the Corales Puntacana Championship last season. The 27-year-old has made the cut in five of his 13 starts this season, and he’s currently No. 94 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
