Suzann Pettersen, Angela Stanford, Carlota Ciganda and Minjee Lee got on a shuttle around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, bound to Club de Golf Mexico from their Mexico City hotel for the third round of the 36-player event in a tournament-provided shuttle.
The four players were two-thirds of the last three pairings. All of them missed their tee times.
Road work on the route to the course forced the shuttle driver to find an alternative route. Unfortunately, the driver picked round, taking an elongated, traffic-filled route that turned a routine trip of 15-20 minutes into a two-hour ordeal.
Stanford tweeted about the experience while on the shuttle, fretting as the minutes ticked down to her tee time, the second to last on the day.
Yeeaaahhhh about that tee time....
Not going to make it. pic.twitter.com/TnTdLnqbhG
— Angela Stanford (@Angela_Stanford) November 14, 2015
The LPGA decided not to disqualify the players, which is the typical penalty for missing a tee time. Instead, officials decided that the situation was wholly out of the control of the players, letting all four play, citing Decision 6-3a/1.5 under the Rules of Golf in choosing to push back the final three times after deciding there were “exceptional circumstances beyond the players’ control.”
@Angela_Stanford Ouch!
— David Sams (@davidsams) November 14, 2015
The ordeal seemed to affect Stanford worst of all, as she shot 4-over 76 that took her from a tie for second to a tie for 14th, nine shots off of the lead of Inbee Park. Pettersen shot 75, while Lee shot 73.
Ciganda was the only player on the ill-fated shuttle to break par on Saturday, shooting 69 that moved her four shots behind Park and into a tie for third place at 6-under 210.
