Accident forces Ai Miyazato to miss Singapore golf event

Japan's Ai Miyazato yesterday withdrew from this week's Women's HSBC Champions tournament in Singapore because of neck and shoulder pain caused by a car crash that involved two other golfers.

World No 13 Paula Creamer and seventh-ranked Suzann Pettersen also were involved in the six-car crash late on Sunday in Bangkok, where they were driving to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore for the US$1.4 million event which starts today.

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," the Japanese said.

American Creamer strained a muscle in her neck and sustained whiplash, but participated in a media promotion on Tuesday to advertise the event. "I've felt better, that's for sure," Creamer said. "Those things happen all the time and you can't control something like that."