Sawt Falasteen - Better late than never, Higgo fires 69 after PGA penalty

Higgo arrived from an adjacent practice putting green at Aronimink for his 7:18 a.m. (1118 GMT) tee time only to be told he was late and was being penalized.

That turned his par at the first hole into a double bogey, but he followed with four birdies and a bogey to stay in contention.

"I'm super proud," Higgo said. "A lot of guys would have shot a lot after what I went through.

"I think it shows a lot of mental strength the way I kept fighting."

The 27-year-old from Johannesburg argued his case in the scoring tent after the round to no avail.

"The rule is if you're one second late, you're late," Higgo said. "It's unfortunate. I usually cut it fine. This morning I was trying to stay warm."

Without the penalty, he would have shared the early clubhouse lead on 67.

"I would have loved to be three-under but I'm one-under," Higgo said. "Hopefully I can make a good story out of it."

Higgo was without his cell phone or watch on the practice green as he ran over with putter in hand.

"I wouldn't have been late if I knew I was running late," Higgo said.

"I am very casual and laid back. I don't want to be there 10 minutes early. Five minutes is fine. I thought I had time. I was obviously too casual, yeah."

Higgo made a 27-foot birdie putt at the par-three 14th hole and a 33-foot birdie putt at the third to highlight his round.

"This is the first time it's happened. I wasn't sure quite what. I was just happy they allowed me to tee off, firstly. I was bummed when he said I had a two-shot penalty," Higgo said.

"I just said to myself, it's going to be a great opportunity to shoot a low score."

Higgo was not shocked to get the penalty news once he reached the tee area.

"It wasn't a surprise," Higgo said. "I was late. My caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee. I knew it was probably going to happen.

"I firstly had to get a driver, and I have to hit a tee shot. It was OK. I just kind of focused on what I need to do.

"I mean, I wasn't going to give up and shoot 80. There was only one thing I could do and that was make birdies and pars and hit it where I wanted to hit it.

"I just told myself I'm even par, because in the moment as well, I wasn't sure if it was going to be two shots. Just try to like frame it differently so I felt better about it."

- 'I'm dangerous' -

Higgo won the PGA Tour's 2021 Palmetto Championship and 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship and is a three-time European Tour winner.

"I know my game is good enough. When I get hot, I'm dangerous. I'm trying to do that a bit more often," Higgo said.

"I believe that I can shoot good scores. I believe my putting is good enough. I think every part of my game is good enough to compete out here."

O.Mousa--SF-PST