It is safe to say that most of us will have had a frustrating time at an airport but it is not a delay or a lost piece of luggage that has ruined Louis Oosthuizen's week.
The South African was set to tee it up at the Joburg Open in good spirits following a closing round of 67 at the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open that had him in contention on Sunday and ultimately sealed him a tie for seventh.
The World Number 23 was aiming for a good week to get himself back into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking but disaster struck on Monday when he got his finger jammed in a luggage trolley at the airport.
The subsequent swelling has left the 2010 Open Championship winner unable to properly grip a club so he has been forced to withdraw from the event at Randpark Golf Club, with even the extra day's rest available due to the cancellation of Tuesday's pro-am not enough to help.
"The body feels great but I had a different incident this week with jamming my fingers in trolleys at the airport," he said. "Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to play this week.
"I’m here and I was ready to do everything this week. I was actually relieved there wasn’t a pro-am because I thought the rest would help but this morning is even worse than it was yesterday. I tried to grip a golf club but there’s no way I can go to my grip position.
"It’s a sad thing but you know I have had my struggles with a couple of things. My body actually feels great but when something like this happens the Monday when I travel, it’s a bit of an unfortunate one.
"I don’t want to tee off Thursday and play one hole or a few shots and then withdraw after taking someone’s spot, I just can’t do that. So I’m going to have to withdraw from this one.
"I was really looking forward to playing this week. I had a goal of getting back in the top 20 by the end of the season, I needed a good week this week so, unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.
My body actually feels great but when something like this happens the Monday when I travel, it’s a bit of an unfortunate one - Louis Oosthuizen
"I haven’t played in Joburg in a while so I was really excited for playing.
"I felt really ready for this week, the game felt good, I didn’t make a lot of putts last week so I was eager to get going this week."
The 35 year old will now head into the winter break and a family holiday in Namibia hopeful that the injury does not prove to be serious.
"I’m probably going to go do an X-ray today," he added. "I hope I didn’t crack the middle finger there somehow but it’s swollen quite a bit and it’s right on that pressure point where you hold your grip.
"I’ll have someone check it out back home and hopefully it’s nothing much."
