Lexi Thompson made headlines earlier this week when it was revealed that nearly 40 players missed out on a Monday practice round because their golf bags were delayed when the caddie transporting them from France to England stopped for several hours to allow Lexi’s caddie to retrieve her passport, which she left in her golf bag.
Lexi spoke to reporters at the Women’s British Open on Wednesday, and was regretful for her role in the chaos. “I can’t apologize enough,” Thompson said of the incident. “I didn’t realize I was going to cause so much delay with the bags for other players.”
It turns out that the Sunday night passport ordeal was even more dramatic than many previously thought. Benji Thompson, Lexi’s caddie, gave a full explanation to the Caddie Network of how the night transpired.
“I got a text from Lexi around 9 o’clock Sunday night saying, ‘Dude we might not get outta here,’” Benji told TCN.
“I was at the hotel down in Geneva and she was still in Evian. I texted back and forth with Lexi and her dad for about an hour trying to figure out the options and how to get the passports back to them quickly. The best option, I thought, was for me to travel and get them at the course on Monday and either fly back with them or FedEx them. Somehow, Lexi’s dad, Scott, got in touch with the driver and he said he was about an hour south of the Geneva airport.
“My flight was at 7:20 a.m. on Monday, and the 5:15 a.m. shuttle bus was picking me and my caddie buddies up. After speaking with the front desk and a cab driver, and making sure they took American Express, I was on my way around 10:45 p.m. Sunday night. I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep and my only thought as a caddie was, ‘my player needs me and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get the job done.’”
