PGA Tour winner docked two shots for turning up late on tee at Scottish Open
Two-time PGA Tour winner Mackenzie Hughes was penalised two shots for turning up late to his 2.45pm tee time in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open.
Mackenzie Hughes was assessed a two-shot penalty for turning up late to his 2.45pm tee time in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open.
Hughes, 33, turned up late on the 1st tee ahead of his third-round grouping with Nicolai Hojgaard.
Players typically arrive on the 1st tee around five to seven minutes before their official starting time.
But for some reason or another Hughes was late and as a result was docked two shots to his opening-hole score.
Former US PGA champion and Sky Sports Golf commentator Rich Beem said he could not believe it, especially with the practice putting green located just 20 yards away from the 1st tee.
Hughes fell foul of Rule 6-3, which states:
"If the player arrives at his starting point, ready to play, within five minutes after the starting time, the penalty for failure to start on time is loss of the first hole in match play or two strokes at the first hole in stroke play."
It meant Hughes' par on the par-4 1st went down on the card as a double-bogey six.
To Hughes' credit he quickly got both shots back with a birdie at the par-5 3rd and another with a chip-in birdie from the back of the par-3 6th.
But despite being level par on the first six holes, Hughes has lost ground to the field with day three heralding plenty of low scores.
The Genesis Scottish Open is both a DP World Tour and PGA Tour event.
The field are playing for a $9m overall purse, with the winner taking home $1.62m on Sunday at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
A number of PGA Tour star names are in contention for the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open including Ludvig Aberg, Bob MacIntyre and defending champion Rory McIlroy.
Hughes is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
He won his first title in a playoff at the 2016 RSM Classic.
Hughes then had to wait just shy of six years to pick up his second in another playoff at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship.
The Canadian is looking to play his way into a first International Presidents Cup team on home soil at Royal Montreal GC from 26-29 September.
He's currently 18th in the standings.
Mike Weir's Internationals team will be built up of the top six in the standings and then six captain's picks.
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