SINGAPORE — Japan's Ai Miyazato withdrew from this week's Women's HSBC Champions tournament in Singapore Wednesday 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 were also involved in the six-car crash late Sunday in Bangkok, where they were driving to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore for the $1.4 million tournament which starts Thursday. World No. 9 Miyazato, who won in Singapore in 2010, practiced for about 15 minutes at the Sentosa Golf Club Wednesday 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 in a statement. American Creamer strained a muscle in her neck and sustained whiplash, but participated in a photo shoot Tuesday with fellow LPGA Tour players Pettersen, Angela Stanford and world No. 1 Yani Tseng to promote 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. “I had pretty bad whiplash from hitting the headrest but I took it easy and hope that I can tee it up Thursday. ... It's pretty amazing, like I said, how we walked away, but things happen.” Norwegian Pettersen escaped the worst of the crash as her vehicle was at the end of the convoy and avoided smashing into the other vehicles, but she was still shaken by the incident. “We're just lucky enough that we all got away with no major injury.” Pettersen said. Missing from the field is 25th-ranked New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko, 15, who has become the most talked-about player on tour after winning last year's Canadian Women's Open and coming close at the season-opener in Australia. Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, 17, will hope to make up for her heart-breaking triple bogey on the final hole which cost her victory and left her in tears at last week's event in Pattaya. Former teen prodigy Michelle Wie, currently ranked 73rd and playing on a sponsor's invite, and defending champion Angela Stanford will also contest a tournament whose other previous winners include Lorena Ochoa and Karrie Webb. — Agencies
