PGA Championship participant hit with penalty | Golf News

Garrick Higgo has been hit with a two-stroke penalty at the PGA Championship after arriving late to his tee time. The South African was scheduled for the 7:18 a.m. ET tee time for Thursday’s opening spherical at Aronimink Golf Club, paired with Michael Brennan and 2003 champion Shaun Micheel.

However, the world No. 85 failed to attain the tee box on time, ensuing in the PGA of America including two strokes to his rating. The 27-year-old, who has received twice on the PGA Tour, was still on the follow inexperienced when the deadline to be at the tee arrived. He is not the only participant in the group to face punishment this season, as Brennan was disqualified from a match for utilizing unlawful gear.

“Higgo was on the practice putting green but was not within the area defined as the starting point at his starting time.” Higgo violated Rule 5.3, but he escaped disqualification because he reached the tee and was prepared to play within 5 minutes of his scheduled tee time.

He obtained a common two-stroke penalty for his violation. The PGA of America didn’t specify precisely how late Higgo was to the tee. The left-hander recorded a par 4 at the opening gap, but his rating was subsequently amended to a double bogey following the penalty evaluation.

Higgo recovered one of those strokes at the third, sinking a prolonged putt for birdie. He presently stands at 1-over for the match after eight holes. Higgo’s mistake comes amid the PGA of America’s enforcement of a code of conduct aimed at bettering participant conduct, mirroring Augusta National’s strategy.

Players face a warning for their initial violation, with a two-stroke penalty imposed for a second breach of the code of conduct. A 3rd violation leads to disqualification. While Higgo’s penalty falls outdoors the code of conduct framework, arriving late is taken into account a violation of correct etiquette.

Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s chief championships officer, explained at Wednesday’s press convention: “The player code of conduct is something that has been a collaborative effort among all the majors and the major Tours: DP World Tour; European Tour. We had a number of meetings to discuss the issue and how we could come up with a program that we feel is fair and effective.

“We have adopted the code of conduct, with the goal being, related to tempo of play, in that the coverage is written. If a participant does one thing type of egregious, sadly, we might give a warning to that participant, and if they had been to do it again, there can be a two-shot penalty. And there’s a type of quantity of type of examples in the code that type of provides us some steerage.

“But it’s really for the good of the game that we’re implementing it to try and make sure everyone is behaving appropriately, professionally, and as we would want our children and people watching to see the major championship.”