David Lipsky was made to endure two late scares as he got through to the weekend right on the mark at the US PGA Championship, having suffered a two shot penalty for being a matter of seconds late for his tee time.
The American entered day two at Bethpage State Park BK Course at a healthy level par and was set for a 12.43pm tee time with Henrik Stenson and Richard Sterne but lost track of time while going through some drills on the putting green.
With the crowd giving him a vocal countdown on the first, he was late for his start by the narrowest of margins, incurring a two shot penalty and seeing a birdie on the first turned into a bogey.
The Alfred Dunhill Championship winner made three bogeys in a row from the 15th to drop to four over and for a long time it looked like he would be heading home before Bethpage got the better of some of the late starters, moving the cut line and handing him a reprieve.
The 30 year old admitted he was angry with both himself and his caddie for the timekeeping error, and will now have to regroup ahead of one of the toughest tests in golf on Saturday and Sunday.
It just shows how stupid we can all be and I have to take responsibility for that but I made the cut so just have to make the most of the weekend - David Lipsky
"I was putting on the putting green, I wasn’t keeping track of what was going on," he said. "My caddie was clearly not keeping track of what was going on, it’s on both of us. I take responsibility but at the end of the day we’re a team and he has to take responsibility as well.
"I never felt like murdering anyone more than my caddie on the first tee today but he’s alive, not gonna go to jail.
"The fans were counting down and I had no idea what was going on. Two shot penalty on the first and I went on to birdie it. My mindset was shot for the rest of the day - always on edge.
"There was this chance that the penalty might be rescinded because the time was so borderline, it was literally a second.
"It just shows how stupid we can all be and I have to take responsibility for that but I made the cut so just have to make the most of the weekend. I don’t know whether I should go into the weekend feeling like it was a gift that I made the cut. I played better than where I am at the moment."
