Brooks Koepka withdraws from U.S Open

It’s been a while since Brooks Koepka, currently World No 8, has played in a golf tournament. In fact, he has not been seen on a course since he missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 14.

He was supposed to play in The Northern Trust (it would have been his seventh consecutive start) but pulled out on the eve of the tournament due to lingering hip and knee injuries.

Koepka, a four-time major winner was ranked a lowly 97th in the FedEx Cup standings when he withdrew from the first play-off event, with only the top 70 after the Northern Trust advancing to the BMW Championship.

He played the previous six tournaments in succession, missing three cuts and recording a best finish of tied second in the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational.

Following his season-ending withdrawal last month, his manager said that Koepka planned to rest the next few weeks “to ensure that he’s ready to go for the start of the 2020-21 season.”

Not ready yet

Koepka has also now withdrawn from the US Open, which will start next Thursday. He said on Twitter “Unfortunately, I have decided to withdraw from next week’s U.S Open. I’m looking forward to getting healthy and competing at 100% again very soon.”

Koepka has been struggling with a left knee injury for quite some time now.  It saw him sidelined for three months last season and he needed on-course treatment to his hip during his title defence at the US PGA Championship in San Francisco last month.

In 2019 he underwent a stem-cell procedure on his left knee and missed the final few months after a setback. Although he didn’t play his A-game this year, recording just two top-25s in 13 starts, he didn’t necessarily blame his performance on his achy left knee. Still, he admitted his issues were "physical."

"I know how to do it, I can do it," he said at the Wyndham. "I just physically can't do it."

Koepka did not say Wednesday when he hoped to return to competition, only that he looked forward to "competing at 100% again very soon." The Masters begins Nov. 12. 

Koepka was replaced in the U.S. Open field by Englishman Paul Waring, the first alternate as determined by the world ranking as of Aug. 23.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2RjKfVJ