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Daly withdraws from Open due to injury

Sport
Golfer John Daly withdrew from the British Open Championship on Monday because he will have surgery on his right elbow this week that will end his PGA Tour season.

WASHINGTON — Golfer John Daly withdrew from the British Open Championship on Monday because he will have surgery on his right elbow this week that will end his PGA Tour season.

Sapa/AP

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 Open Championship by Stephen Gallacher of Scotland. The Open is July 18-21 at Muirfield.

Daly says he is scheduled for surgery tomorrow 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 Open Championship since 1999 at Carnoustie.

The surgery means he will not play in the only two majors for which Daly is eligible — the Open Championship 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 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.