Lucas Glover made a rookie mistake on Thursday at the WM Phoenix Open, which unfortunately for somebody who has played 520 events on the PGA Tour, led to withdrawing from the tournament. Glover misread the text that was sent out to players earlier in the week that included his 8:26 a.m. local tee time alongside Nico Echavarria and Tom Hoge. As a result, he missed his group in Round 1.
“I just misread my text messages [that listed my tee time],” Glover told Golf Channel after PGA Tour officials called him just moments before he was scheduled to tee off on the first hole in the morning wave at TPC Scottsdale. “I’m kicking myself but laughing at myself at the same time.”
The withdrawal is his first on the PGA Tour since 2013. And while it’s a bummer being forced to withdraw from the tournament, Glover can find solace in the fact that he’s already in all the signature events for 2024, including next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club. He’s not trying to play his way into those events like many others in the field, including the golfer who replaced him — Ryo Hisatsune — this week in Phoenix.
Glover has struggled since winning twice at the end of last summer. He won the Wyndham Championship and St. Jude Classic in back-to-back weeks, which prompted some Ryder Cup buzz for the 2009 U.S. Open winner. He ultimately was not picked for the U.S. team, which lost to Europe in Rome, and Glover does not have a top 10 finish since that St. Jude victory. In three starts this year, he finished T29 at the Sentry, missed the cut at the Sony Open and finished T58 at a weather-shortened Pebble Beach Pro Am last week.