The journey to playing a major tournament is a difficult one for any professional.

But spare a thought for poor Jhonattan Vegas, who had the trip from hell to make it to Carnoustie for The Open this weekend.

The Venezuelan's visa ran out on the day he was due to travel to the United Kingdom for the third major of the year.

A desperate attempt to secure a renewal hit several snags and Vegas only arrived at the course by helicopter a couple of hours before his scheduled tee time on Thursday.

Unfortunately for Vegas, the bad-luck story does not end there as, while he just about made it, his clubs did not.

After a madcap dash to put a bag together, Vegas eventually made it to his tee-off time, but unsurprisingly struggled to a five-over-par 76.

Anyone could be forgiven for feeling a touch annoyed at such a series of unfortunate events, but Vegas is seeing the funny side of his hard-luck story.

"Everyone has found it funny especially when you put the pieces together," a smiling Vegas said.

"It feels like someone [else] did it. Everyone had a laugh at it, I'm doing the same. If I had a different attitude I'd have broken some clubs by now."