The Open: Jhonattan Vegas narrowly makes his tee time at Carnoustie
Thursday 19 July 2018 19:57, UK
Jhonattan Vegas was the talk of Carnoustie on day one of The 147th Open as he arrived at the course barely an hour before his tee time.
Vegas was unable to travel earlier this week as his visa had expired, and he then encountered delays in getting his passport back with the required paperwork.
The Venezuelan then endured flight delays before finally boarding a flight from Toronto to Glasgow on Wednesday, with a helicopter waiting to pick him up at Glasgow airport and fly him to the course.
Vegas also had to travel without his clubs, so his sponsors arranged for a new set of equipment to be waiting for him on the range upon his arrival, shortly after 9am on Thursday morning.
The 33-year-old, who is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, did manage to get in a warm-up on the range before having a short session on the practice putting green ahead of his 10:31am tee time, in the same group as Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau.
Vegas is making only his second appearance in The Open having missed the halfway cut at Royal Birkdale last year, and he understandably made an uncertain start at Carnoustie.
Just a few hours after stepping off his overnight flight, Vegas bogeyed the second and third holes and, although he pulled one back at the long sixth, he dropped another shot at the ninth to slip back to two over.
He also bogeyed 11, 15 and the final hole to return a 76, but Vegas can enjoy a relaxing evening and a decent lie-in on Friday as he does not begin his second round until 3:32pm.
