Japan’s Ai Miyazato withdrew from this week’s HSBC Champions tournament in Singapore yesterday because of neck and shoulder pain caused by a car crash that involved two other golfers.
World number 13 Paula Creamer and seventh-ranked Suzann Pettersen were also involved in the six-car crash in Bangkok, where they were driving to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore for the $1.4 million tournament which starts today.
World number nine Miyazato, who won in Singapore in 2010, practised for about 15 minutes at the Sentosa Golf Club yesterday before pulling out with whiplash. “I have pain in my neck and shoulder, so I’ll sit this tournament out as a precaution,” she said.
Norwegian Pettersen escaped the worst of the crash as her vehicle was at the end of the convoy and avoided smashing into the other vehicles, but she was still shaken by the incident.