Graeme McDowell withdraws from British Open qualifier after airline loses his clubs

Former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell may miss out on the British Open later this month — though not due to a fault of his own.

McDowell flew from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport to Manchester on Sunday night ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier for The Open at St. Annes, something he needed to do well in to secure his place in the tournament. However, there was just one problem: his clubs didn’t show up.

“Need assistance from @airfance,” McDowell tweeted early Monday morning. “Flew into Manchester last night from CDG and my golf clubs are untraceable. I have a 36 qualifier tomorrow for @TheOpen and really need my bag. Thanks in advance. #help.”

His call for help, though, seemingly went unanswered.

One user asked McDowell why he simply didn’t rent clubs ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier, which is a totally fair question. However, as McDowell quickly explained, only three spots are up for grabs out of the 72-man field, which would make playing well enough to qualify for The Open with totally new equipment extremely difficult.

So, after a day of frustration, McDowell cut his losses and withdrew from the qualifier.

While McDowell missed this opportunity to qualify, he’s not totally out of time to qualify for the British Open. McDowell is set to compete in the Irish Open later this week and the Scottish Open next week — both of which offer qualification spots for the leading non-exempt players who finish in the top-10.

Hopefully, for his sake, McDowell’s clubs resurface from the airport black hole in time.

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