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Vegas takes wild journey to Carnoustie

Carnoustie - Jhonattan Vegas was forced to do plenty of scrambling before he even teed off in the Open Champions at Carnoustie.

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The Venezuelan golfer's remarkable week-long journey to Carnoustie involved an expired visa, a seven-hour stakeout in a car outside a consulate in Houston, a hastily arranged helicopter ride across Scotland, and a lost set of clubs.

"It seemed like a horror movie was happening for the past week," said Vegas, an incredulous look on his face.

"Even if someone tried to do something like this on purpose, you couldn't really do it."

In the end, Vegas played the first round of golf's oldest major on one of the world's toughest courses with some borrowed clubs and 20 minutes of practice.

He shot a 5-over 76 on Thursday.

"Even though this journey seemed crazy and frustrating at times," Vegas said, "I just thought that somebody was really playing a joke on me."

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