A golfer who received a two-stroke penalty for arriving just eight seconds past his tee-off time on the Korn Ferry Tour, the secondary circuit of the U.S. PGA, has drawn attention with his unfortunate story.
A player named Ian Gilligan made par on the first hole during the first round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am held this week at Spartanburg Country Club in South Carolina, but his score was changed to a double bogey.
According to Golfweek, Gilligan, who was scheduled to tee off at 6:56 a.m., arrived eight seconds after the appointed time. The cause of his tardiness was a delay of more than 10 minutes while waiting for the shuttle bus that takes players from the practice area to the first hole (par 4) teeing ground.
According to Gilligan, he woke up at 3:50 a.m. to warm up. He arrived at the shuttle bus stop heading to the first teeing ground at 6:40 a.m. He thought he had enough time since the teeing ground was only a five-minute distance away.
"While waiting for the shuttle bus, I saw two players moving to the course in their own vehicles, but they weren't colleagues I knew, and I believed the shuttle bus would arrive soon. I should have asked those players if I could ride with them at that time," Gilligan said regretfully.
A short while later, Gilligan boarded the shuttle bus and sprinted at full speed to the first hole as soon as the vehicle stopped, but he had to hear from a rules official that he had "exceeded the tee-off time by a few seconds."
While Gilligan complained that not enough shuttle buses had been prepared given the number of competitors, he said, "If I have to use the shuttle again in the future, I'll move with much more time to spare."
Interestingly, Gilligan had reacted with disbelief toward Garrick Higgo (South Africa), who recently appeared in the news for being late to the major tournament PGA Championship. He said he had talked with his girlfriend about Higgo, suggesting it was too careless.
But while anxiously waiting for the shuttle bus that day, he had to share a bittersweet joke with his caddie, saying, "Are we going to end up like Garrick Higgo at this rate?"
Gilligan, who entered the BMW tournament ranked 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour, missed the cut with a two-day total of 3-over par. The cut line was 2-under par. Lee Kyoung-hoon failed to make the cut by one stroke, while Noh Seung-yul advanced to the third round, barely making it at 2-under par.
