Garrick Higgo arrived late to his first-round tee time at the PGA Championship – and the two-stroke penalty he received for it ultimately ended his tournament. He missed the cut, and now his caddie is out of a job.
The South African golfer hasn’t exactly taken the situation in stride. After the round, Higgo pushed back on the penalty, arguing there’s a difference between being marginally late and substantially late. The rules don’t see it that way.
“I was there on time, but the rule is, if you’re one second late, you’re late. So if you think about it, I was there on time, if you know what I mean.”
It’s hard to know what he means, exactly.
Higgo also acknowledged that his caddie, Austin Gaugert, was screaming at him to get to the tee box in time – a warning he didn’t take seriously enough.
“If you know me, then you know I am very casual and laid back. I don’t know. I don’t want to be there 10 minutes early. I know that five minutes is fine. I thought I had time. I was obviously too casual, yeah.”
Higgo Parts Ways With Caddie Austin Gaugert
The financial hit was real. Missing the cut meant Higgo walked away with a $4,300 missed-cut stipend – compared to the minimum $23,900 he’d have earned by simply surviving the weekend.
ESPN reports that Higgo has since parted ways with Gaugert, and will have Nick Cavendish-Pell on his bag this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
It’s possible Gaugert chose to walk away after the incident. But that doesn’t appear to be how it played out.
What’s clear is that Higgo, having already deflected blame for being late, is now moving on – while the caddie who tried to warn him is the one paying the price.