PGA Championship Pace of Play Issues

It seems that everyone at the PGA Championship is racing against time.

Just a day after Garrick Higgo received a two-stroke penalty for arriving late to his tee time, officials at Aronimink Golf Club were focused on keeping the rest of the players on schedule for the second round.

On Friday, Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley were seen entering with PGA officials. As they approached the fourth hole, they appeared to be informed that they were being timed. Meanwhile, the other players remained on the green, animatedly discussing the group ahead of them.

Pace of play was clearly an issue during the first round, with one group taking nearly five and a half hours to complete 18 holes.

One contributing factor is that the 1st and 10th holes share a tee box while the paths of the 9th and 17th holes intersect.

The 8th hole, a long par 3, also contributed to delays due to its complexity and positioning near the 9th hole.

According to a revised pace of play policy implemented in 2025, the first “bad time” violation will incur a one-stroke penalty.

As per the Tour Rules, “A group, or an individual player within a group, will receive an official warning if the Rules Committee determines that the group is beginning to fall behind or is out of position.” These warnings can only be issued once per round.

Higgo, who claimed he was about 30 seconds late for his 7:18 a.m. tee time on Thursday, ended his day with a 1-under 69, despite starting with a two-stroke penalty. He stated, “I arrived on time, but the rule is that if you’re one second late, you’re late,” expressing relief that he was permitted to tee off at all.