Golfer's Absent-Minded Goof Has Repercussions

Nearly 40 players missed practice because Lexi Thompson forgot her passport
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2019 3:33 PM CDT
Golfer's Goof Causes Nearly 40 Players to Miss Practice
Lexi Thompson takes part in the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship golf tournament on June 22, 2019, in Chaska, Minn.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Dozens of golfers hoping to win big at the Women's British Open were unable to practice Monday—all because American Lexi Thompson forgot her passport. Driver Ian Wright was transporting the golf clubs of 38 players from Évian-les-Bains, France—host of last week's Evian Championship—to England via truck when he learned Thompson had left her passport in one of the bags. Wright tells Golf Channel he was two hours into the journey Sunday when he had to pull over and wait for Thompson's caddie to arrive to pick up the passport and race it to the airport in Geneva. But by the time it had been retrieved and the truck repacked, Wright was three hours behind. That meant he missed his ferry across the English Channel and had to sit through unexpected traffic, per Golf Channel.

The clubs finally arrived at England's Woburn Golf Club at 5pm Monday, some six hours later than expected and too late for players to hit the course for a practice round. Thompson "had no idea retrieving [the passport] would cause the delay it did, or that it would impact other players the way it did," agent Bobby Kreusler tells Golf Channel. "Things happen, and there isn't much you can do about it," adds US golfer Stacy Lewis. But fellow American Ryann O’Toole faults Wright, per Golf.com. "I don't know why the driver would agree to accommodate one person knowing it would punish about a third of the field," she says. In the end, Thompson was also late arriving as her flight was canceled because of a British Airways strike. (More golf stories.)

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