US PGA contender hit with penalty after missing tee time!

It wouldn’t be a major championship without a rules incident, right?

The 2019 US PGA got its very own on Friday when American David Lipsky was hit with a two-shot penalty… for missing his tee time!

Lipsky, 30, entered day two at Bethpage in a tie for 18th and level-par but was two shots worse off before even hitting a ball after failing to be in position to get his second round underway at his scheduled time of 5.43pm (UK time).

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In a statement, the PGA of America explained: “Lipsky, from Las Vegas, NV, was walking toward the tee with his putter and a ball but was not within the area defined as the start point.”

The PGA of America’s local rules and competition terms states the following with regard to the starting point of a round:

4. Starting Point Defined: For the purpose of applying Rule 5.3a, the starting point for hole #1 and hole #10 is defined by the rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines.”

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Players must be ready to play at the starting time and starting point set by the tournament committee. The penalty for breaching this rule is disqualification with three exceptions, one of which is when a player arrives at their starting point, ready to play, no more than five minutes late, for which a two-shot penalty is applied.

It’s not clear what happened to make Lipsky late to the tee but it proved costly as he signed for a 74 to drop to four-over for the tournament.