The Loop
Paula Creamer still haunted by auto accident
(Getty Images photo)
By John Strege
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Sunday will mark a month since Paula Creamer was involved in an automobile accident following the Honda LPGA Thailand that still causes her issues, though apparently not with her golf game.
"I'm a nightmare in the car," she said Friday following a four-under par 68 in the second round of the Kia Classic that left her in second place, a stroke behind Beatriz Recari. "I'm awful. I have to drive or I have to be in the back seat where I can't see. It's getting better, but still I get a lot of anxiety before I even get into the car.
"My mom, my dad, they've been really good with me because I've been like, 'watch out, watch out.' I have to just sit there and I put my music on and I just close my eyes."
She was in the passenger's seat, with her seatbelt on, when the car in which she was riding was involved in a five-car pileup en route to the Bangkok airport.
Creamer, who is seeking to win for the first time since the U.S. Women's Open in 2010, said her shoulder still hurts on cold mornings and her neck "is not a hundred percent. But I'm not hurting myself when I'm out here and it's not affecting my game."
She finished third in the HSBC Women's Champions a week after the Thailand event and tied for 13th at the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup last Sunday.