Garrick Higgo’s caddy has himself to blame after the pro was penalized two strokes for reaching the bottom of his PGA Championship first round time last week.
Austin Gaugert posted his thoughts on Instagram on Wednesday. on monday, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that Gaugert and Higgo split after the PGA and this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson In the event, Higgo is using Nick Cavendish-Pell as his caddy.
Below is Gaugert’s statement:
“I want to say something about the incident with Garrick Higgo that delayed Thursday’s match at the PGA Championship. As a caddy, you try to do everything you can to prepare your player for competition and I failed to do that. Garrick was understanding throughout the situation and handled it with professionalism and class. It’s happened to players before and it will happen again. Garrick handled nothing but a difficult situation with him.
“After working with Garrick and finding the highest success in caddy, Garrick has become a better friend to me than just a boss. I will always be grateful for that.”
Higgo’s punishment for arriving late came during last Thursday’s first PGA round. He was scheduled to tee off at 7:18 a.m. ET and arrived at 7:19 a.m., adding two strokes to his first-hole score, according to rule 5.3a of the Rules of Golf. If Higgo had arrived more than five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.
At the time of the snap, Higgo was on the nearby practice green and as Higo walked to the tee, Gaugert was seen begging him to arrive. When Higgo did, he was told of the penalty by a rules official, then went on to shoot a one-under 69. The next day, Higgo shot a 76 and missed the stroke by one stroke.
After his first round, Higgo answered 15 questions about what had happened.
“If you know me, then you know I’m very casual and laid back,” Higgo said at his press conference. “But—I don’t know. I don’t want to be there 10 minutes early. I know five minutes is fine. I thought I had time.
“I was definitely very casual, yes.”
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