Lucas Glover withdraws from WM Phoenix Open after missing tee time
The major champion lived every golfer's nightmare Thursday morning.
You know that recurring dream where you realize you've missed your final exam? Lucas Glover lived the real-world version of that nightmare on Thursday morning when he was forced to withdraw from the WM Phoenix Open after missing his tee time.
Glover was scheduled to tee off at 8:26 a.m., and when he wasn't at the tee, officials called him ... and learned he was still in his hotel room, unaware that he was minutes away from being disqualified.
“I just mis-read my text messages [that listed the tee time],” Glover later told Golf Channel. “I’m kicking myself but laughing at myself at the same time.”
Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, has enjoyed a bit of a career renaissance lately. He won the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in back-to-back weeks and rose into the top 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings from a triple-digit rank.
His withdrawal Thursday opened up a slot in the field for Ryo Hisatsune, the first alternate.
The Official Rules of Golf stipulate, in Section 5.3, that players must tee off at the exact stipulated moment, not earlier, not later. Teeing off any time within five minutes of that time incurs a two-stroke penalty; teeing off any later results in disqualification. So Glover obviously knew it was unlikely he'd be able to get from his hotel room to the tee box in less than five minutes.
Missing a tee time is rare but not unprecedented. Paul Casey nearly missed the opening round of the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship when he thought his tee time was 10 minutes later than it actually was; he made the time with some sprinting, and ended up birdieing the hole. More notably, Rory McIlroy nearly missed his tee time in his singles match at the 2012 Ryder Cup after seeing it noted on a broadcast in Eastern Time but forgetting that he was on Central Time. Missing that match could have swung the entire Ryder Cup; McIlroy won against Keegan Bradley, and Europe pulled off the "Miracle at Medinah" to defeat the U.S., 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.
