SANTIAGO, Chile—Joel Thelen had just polished off his second consecutive 70 at the Neuquén Argentina Classic. His 9-under total left him tied for sixth with Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti, Mexico’s Jorge Villar and U.S. player Dalan Refioglu.

Thelen had taken a bit of a gamble coming to Latin America at the beginning of the month. He knew by playing in the first three events of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica season, he would miss celebrating with his wife, Anna, their 11th wedding anniversary. Thelen would also miss the second birthday for his son, Reese.

“I knew I loved playing down here, and I wanted to keep playing. So, it’s definitely good to play well. I knew if I had come down here and played poorly, it would have been a double whammy being away from home,” he said.

While Thelen never really threatened eventual winner Cristóbal Del Solar on Sunday, unable to put any pressure on the Chilean as he won by two strokes, Thelen’s Sunday wasn’t lacking for excitement. The fun, as it turned out, happened after the conclusion of the tournament at Chapelco Golf & Resort.

With the Scotia Wealth Management Chile Open presented by Volvo the next tournament on the schedule, the third and final event of the 2022 portion of the Tour’s schedule, Thelen and France’s Jeremy Gandon, along with several caddies, had arranged for a 15-person passenger van to ferry them from San Martin de Los Andes, Argentina, to Santiago so both players could participate in the tournament’s Monday pro-am.

“Everything was going well until about Sunday at 5 o’clock,” Thelen explained remembering the bit of bad news he received post-round. After closing with a birdie-par finish, Thelen discovered the group’s van reservation was no bueno, the driver informing everybody that due to the Argentina-Chile border closing at 8 p.m., the driver wouldn’t be able to get the players to Pucón, Chile—where a bus awaited to take them to Santiago—and then get back into Argentina before the border closed.

With news he didn’t want to hear, Thelen went to work. He started texting taxi companies, and he sent messages to his Neuquén Argentina Classic pro-am partners asking if they had any solutions.

Finally, his Airbnb host had an idea. He knew someone who could drive them to Pucón. “If you leave right now, you can make it,” he said after learning the Pucón bus to Santiago would leave promptly at 9:45 p.m.

Thelen and Gandon were both in.

Staff at Chapelco hopped in a couple of golf carts, they picked up Thelen and Gandon and the carts took them to the highway where they met their ride.

No time to mess around. They had a bus to catch.

Thelen and Gandon tossed their clubs and luggage in the back of the pickup truck that would take them the approximate 300 miles to the Pucón bus station. They piled in and off they went. It was definitely not a leisurely Sunday drive.

“A couple we had never met before picks us up in their truck, and he drove twice the speed limit the whole way. We were flying through the Andes Mountains wondering, Are we going to make the bus?” Thelen remembered.

In addition to the distance to travel on Argentina National Route 40—Ruta Nacional 40—that took them through Junin de los Andes and Parque Nacional Lanín (sorry, no time to take in the scenic vistas), there was also the matter of immigration, stopping and showing passports the border. Crucial minutes could tick away, and the two golfers hoped the line wouldn’t be too long.

Yeah, good luck with that.

“We had a lot of trouble crossing the border,” explained Gandon, remembering the almost-one-hour wait to go through the immigration process. With their passports stamped and safely in Chile, the NASCAR Truck Series-like pace continued.

“Even as we were driving, two hours out, 30 minutes out, we still didn’t know if we were going to make it. It was down to the minute. It was wild,” Thelen added, noting the truck eventually pulled into the bus station at 9:39.

Six minutes to spare.

“The lady who was driving with us, she spoke English, and she came to help in case we had trouble getting on the bus,” Thelen gratefully acknowledged. No issues ensued.

Once on the bus and the adrenaline no longer kicking in, the two fell asleep only to awake at the Santiago bus station. From there, Thelen and Gandon caught a taxi to the golf course. They both arrived in time to meet their pro-am partners, tee it up and play 18 holes.

“It was crazy, and the pro-am was a blast. The course is really challenging, but I had a great group of guys,” Thelen added. A day later, the two played a much-more relaxed practice round, they’ll play in another pro-am Wednesday and then be ready for the official start to the tournament Thursday.

Once the pair finish the tournament, Thelen will head back to the United States. His plan is to make up for lost time. “I have a lot of celebrating to do, with our anniversary and my son’s birthday already having happened, and Christmas coming up. We’re going to do everything and party for the next couple of weeks, the three of us.”

For his part, Gandon will return to his native France, hoping to celebrate a second consecutive World Cup title for his home team as the French team is one of the four remaining teams still in the title hunt.

Then, in North America and Europe, two professional golfers will have quite a tale to tell of a Sunday night South American adventure.