Garrick Higgo is moving on from his caddie.
Higgo split with caddie Austin Gaugert days after missing the cut at the PGA Championship and re-hired former caddie Nick Cavendish-Pell, with Higgo’s agent confirming the news to Golfweek.
Higgo had a 7:18 a.m. tee time on Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club, alongside Shaun Micheel and Michael Brennan, but arrived one minute late, resulting in a two-shot penalty. The PGA of America said Higgo was practicing on the putting green but was not within the area defined as the starting point of his tee time. The rules state a golfer must be on the tee box and ready to play at the assigned time. Had he been more than five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.
The two-shot penalty turned what would have been a 3-under 67 and a share of the first-round lead into a 69. Higgo then struggled to a 76 in the second round and missed the cut by a single shot, a fate he would have avoided without the penalty.
Video from the broadcast showed Gaugert desperately trying to hurry Higgo to the tee. Higgo acknowledged it after his round. “I was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee,” he said. His explanation didn’t stop there. “No, I wouldn’t have been late if I knew I was running late,” Higgo said.
When asked whether he agreed with the penalty, Higgo said, “Probably not.”
Gaugert was on the bag when Higgo won the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship. Higgo is reuniting with Cavendish-Pell, who was on his bag for all three of his DP World Tour victories and at the 2021 Palmetto Championship, where Higgo won his first PGA Tour title in just his second start. The pair will team up this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Dallas.
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