New York: John Daly withdrew from the British Open on Monday because he will have surgery on his right elbow this week that will end his PGA Tour season.
Daly said he first noticed something wrong with his right elbow at the Byron Nelson Championship in May, and tests revealed a torn tendon. He said doctors told him he could try to play as long as he didn’t hit a rock or a tree root.
“And that’s what happened on the 12th hole Friday at Greenbrier,” Daly said. “I was just trying to chip out and there was a root under the ball. It wasn’t more than 50-yard chip shot. But that’s the pain I’ve been dealing with.”
He was replaced in the British Open by Stephen Gallacher of Scotland. The Open is July 18-21 at Muirfield.
Daly says he is scheduled for surgery Thursday morning. He said doctors told him he could start rehabilitation in early September, and if everything went well, he could return to golf in the late fall.
This will be the first time Daly, 47, has missed the British Open since 1999 at Carnoustie.
The surgery means he will not play in the only two majors for which Daly is eligible — the British Open and the PGA Championship as a past champion of both. Daly won the 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick as the ninth alternate, and he won the Open in 1995 at St. Andrews in a playoff over Costantino Rocca.
“I hate missing the British Open, especially at Muirfield. It’s one of the best on the planet,” Daly said.
Daly has not had a full PGA Tour card since 2006. A year ago, he put together three finishes in the top 20 — including a tie for fifth in the Reno-Tahoe Open — during a stretch of seven straight tournaments. He had a chance of earning his card until an 86-77 on the weekend at Las Vegas and missed cuts in his last two events. He finished 146th on the money list, his highest position since 2005.
“What really (stinks) about this is that I was getting ready to play seven in a row, and that’s when I played my best golf last year,” Daly said. “My goal was to get into those four qualifying tournaments at the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn has been confirmed as one of 10 players to secure late exemptions for qualifying for next week’s event.
The 42-year-old, who tied for second in 2000 and led the 2003 tournament by two shots with three to play, only to take three to get out of a bunker, has qualified via his position in the Race to Dubai. It will be his 16th appearance at The Open.
Scotland’s Marc Warren, meanwhile, will make his Open debut as his joint-second at the BMW PGA Championship in May meant he was high enough up the rankings to earn a place.
Three other European Tour players - South African Richard Sterne, Australian Brett Rumford and Swede Mikko Ilonen - also clinched their spots the same way.
Joining them will be five counterparts from the USPGA Tour who made it into Muirfield via their places in the FedEx Cup rankings.
Florida’s Billy Horschel, who enjoyed his breakthrough win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April and finished fourth at last month’s US Open, will make his debut as will 34-year-old Jimmy Walker, courtesy of his runners-up spot at the Greenbrier Classic on Sunday, and Sony Open winner Russell Henley.
Former Ryder Cup player and crowd favourite Boo Weekley returns to The Open after finished tied-13th in 2009
Ex-United States Walker Cup player Harris English will also play at Muirfield, having finished joint 54th at Royal Lytham and St Annes last year.
