Bryson DeChambeau has withdrawn from the Players Championship, the PGA Tour released on Sunday night shortly after the finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
No reason was given, but this is the second straight week in which DeChambeau had initially registered to compete on the PGA Tour only to then drop out of the tournament. DeChambeau was the defending champion at the API, but last Monday released a video on social media in which he stated that he was “just not ready yet.”
“Man, tough decision right now,” DeChambeau said about not playing at Bay Hill. “I have a lot of work to do to get everything back into order for this week, but I just feel like it’s too short of a time for me to get back to 100 percent. Right now, I’m like 90 percent, and I just don’t want to go out there and hurt myself even more and not be 100 percent ready for the rest of the season. I don’t want to come back early and then have to take more time off. So, it’s a hard decision to make right now, but I’m going to unfortunately have to not play this week.”
DeChambeau has been dealing with hip and hand injuries throughout much of 2022. He withdrew before the start of the Sony Open in January and withdrew after the first round of the Saudi International last month. He was also visible hobbled during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open, a tournament in which he missed the cut by one shot.
Replacing DeChambeau in the Players Championship field is recent Korn Ferry Tour graduate Hayden Buckley, coincidentally a fellow SMU alum. The Players field now is down to 47 of the top 50 players in the World Ranking, DeChambeau missing along with Phil Mickelson and Harris English.
DeChambeau finished T-3 at the Players in 2021, two shots back of winner Justin Thomas. DeChambeau has made the cut all three times he’s played in the event at TPC Sawgrass.