Major champ WD from Phoenix Open for bizarre reason

The Waste Management Phoenix Open has lost a major champion from its field after a bizarre late withdrawal on Thursday morning. 

Lucas Glover has remarkably missed out on this week’s showpiece at TPC Scottsdale having misread his tee time.

The 2009 US Open champion realised he was about to miss his 8:26am tee time whilst in his hotel room near the Stadium Course.

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Officials called the veteran to tell him he had one minute to get down to the tee, and that stage, it was too little too late.

“I just misread my text messages [that listed tee time],” Glover told the Golf Channel. “I’m kicking myself but laughing at myself at the same time.”

Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune was first alternate and has replaced Glover in the field. It’s the first time the American has ever missed a tee time in his 20-year PGA Tour career.

The six-time Tour winner had made his way to Arizona after finishing T58 at a weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am in California.

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Glover was among the highest ranked players set to compete at TPC Scottsdale following his unlikely renaissance in 2023.

The 44-year-old was ranked 119th in the world before winning the Wyndham Championship last May. A week later, he defeated Patrick Cantlay to win the FedEx St Jude Championship for his second-straight PGA Tour victory.

Glover won a combined $5million for those two wins alone and, as world No.32, is in all the PGA Tour’s signature events for the remainder of the season.

He may just check his tee time twice at next week’s $20m Genesis Invitational at Riviera, where Tiger Woods will play host in his first appearance of 2024.

But if there was ever a good time in your career to miss a tee time, this was probably it.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.