At the PGA Championship, the old adage "if you're not early, you're late" rang true for Garrick Higgo—and it cost him two strokes before he even swung a club.

The South African arrived at the first tee box at Aronimink Golf Club on Thursday, estimating he was just 30 seconds past his 7:18 a.m. tee time. The penalty was swift and unforgiving: a two-stroke assessment that turned his opening swing into his third shot of the day.

"I was there on time," Higgo said after the round. "But the rule is if you're one second late, you're late."

The 27-year-old, who had never been penalized for tardiness before, admitted his caddie was "yelling at me to get to the tee." Under PGA rules, a player must be on the tee box and ready to play at the exact assigned time—regardless of the order of play. Had he been five minutes late, he would have been disqualified entirely.

Despite the rocky start, Higgo showed remarkable composure. He "parred" the opening hole, but his 4 became a 6 due to the penalty. Rather than letting frustration derail his round, he refocused and carded four birdies and just one bogey, finishing with a 1-under 69.

"Obviously, it wasn't great," he said of the penalty. "But I knew I had to get a driver and hit a tee shot. 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."

Higgo attempted to plead his case to officials after the round—with support from his playing partners—but the decision stood. He admitted he might have been a bit late and grudgingly accepted the outcome, attributing the mishap to a casual approach to time management.

Still, the 69 left him wondering what could have been. Without the penalty, he would have shot 67—the low score of the morning wave. For Higgo, it was a hard lesson in the importance of being early, not just on time.