Among the many terrific quotes from Garrick Higgo in the aftermath of his two-stroke penalty for arriving late to the tee on Thursday morning at the PGA Championship, one came from this gem of an exchange:

Q: Did you know you were a little bit late at that moment?

A: No, I wouldn’t have been late if I knew I was running late.

If that sounds like it belongs in an old compilation of Yogi Berra quotes—”nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”—what came next might be even better, from his post-round interview on ESPN:

“I was obviously there on time, but late.”

Remarkably, after starting the day two strokes down before he ever made a swing, the South African Higgo played brilliant golf, finishing at “one under,” which belongs in quotes because without the penalty, he’d be tied for the lead at three under.

So what happened?

Per Higgo, there was no dramatic reason for showing up late, just that he cut it “a little fine” in departing the range.

“If you know me, then you know I am very casual and laid back,” he said. “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.”

Before then, he said, everything was right on schedule. He saw his physio at 5:15 a.m., arrived at the gym at 5:30, putting green at 6, range at 6:30. But by the time he left the range, though, his caddie was yelling at him to hurry up, and he knew there would be trouble when he arrived at the tee.

According to the TV broadcast and the PGA of America, Higgo was there at 7:19 a.m., a minute and change beyond his tee time. The starter who greeted him at the tee told him he was late, and that he’d take a two-stroke penalty:

After the round, though, Higgo told assembled media that he was there just 30 seconds late, hence the odd formulation of being “late, but on time,” which he repeated later, saying, “if you think about it, I was there on time, if you know what I mean.”

Here’s what he meant (we think): By the minute hand, he was “on time” in the sense that it was still 7:18, but by the second hand he was late, since the tee time is 7:18:00 and he claimed to be there at 7:18:30. Of course, this does not mean he was on time, and anyway, they clocked him at 7:19. Regardless, this seems to have been the substance of a roughly 20-minute discussion he held with the PGA of America after his round.

“I was just trying to get evidence,” he said of that meeting. “I feel like any of you would have done the same.”

He did acknowledge, however, that even being one second late was enough to incur the penalty and wasn’t protesting the lost strokes.

At the tee, Higgo apologised to his playing partners Michael Brennan and Shaun Micheel, but they were unbothered—Higgo was supposed to tee off last of the trio anyway—and they actually tried to argue his case. The PGA of America wasn’t budging, however, and the penalty stood.

Despite it all, the 27-year-old gained both strokes back by the end of the front nine, then went under par with birdies on 14 and 17 to finish with a 69 that, in strokes played, was a 67. He was proud of his performance despite the blunder to start, and he knows it could have been worse: If he had been five minutes late instead of one, he would have been disqualified from the tournament.

Now he just has to pray he doesn’t go on to lose by a shot.

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Main Image: Michael Reaves