Garrick Higgo’s week to forget at the PGA Championship ended with him parting ways with caddie Austin Gaugert.
Higgo split with Gaugert after missing the cut at the PGA and re-hired a former caddie, Nick Cavendish-Pell, Higgo’s agent confirmed to Golfweek on Monday.
Higgo received a two-stroke penalty for being late to his tee time in the first round of the major championship, and it haunted him all week. He shot a first-round, 1-under-par 69 that would have been a 67 and tied him for the lead at the time were it not for the penalty.
Then, Higgo struggled to a 76 in the second round and missed the cut by a single shot — which would not have been his fate without the penalty for tardiness.
Among several comments that made waves, Higgo said after the first round that his penalty “wasn’t a surprise. I was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee.”
Video from the first-round broadcast indeed captured Gaugert calling for Higgo to hurry up from the practice green to the first tee at Aronimink Golf Club.
Higgo, 27, is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour along with three victories on the DP World Tour. He’ll play this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas with Cavendish-Pell at his side. Cavendish-Pell was on his bag in 2021 when he won his first PGA Tour title at the Palmetto Championship.
