Jhonattan Vegas made it to the British Open only two hours before his tee time after a week filled with challenges that included an expired visa and a delayed flight to Carnoustie.
The Venezuelan golfer's clubs didn’t make it at all, so he played with borrowed ones, The Guardian reported, shooting a 76, five over par, on his first 18 holes.
A misreading of the dates on Vegas’ visa led to him reapplying for a new one a week before the Open started, but he applied for the wrong kind and had to do it again a few days later.
He had to wait an extra day for the passport to arrive after UPS shut down for the day, and then fly out of Houston on Wednesday to Toronto and then to Scotland where the Open was starting on Thursday, USA Today reported.
Because of the visa problems, he ended up taking a helicopter from Glasgow to Carnoustie, but he didn’t have his clubs and had to borrow some for his first round in the tournament.
Still, Vegas couldn’t stop smiling as he talked about his experience and was happy to be there and make his tee time, even on only the two hours’ sleep he managed on the trans-Atlantic flight, The Guardian reported.
"As long as I had a shot at making it, I was going to try. Ask anyone in the world if they would play in the Open showing up two hours beforehand, they would take it," Vegas said, The Guardian reported.
Vegas didn’t make it into last year’s British Open, and tied for 41st at last month’s U.S. Open.
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