AUGUSTA, Ga. (Sporting Alert) — Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from the Masters due to a lingering back problem that he unfortunately aggravated.
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On Tuesday, Johnson’s agent David Winkle revealed the he aggravated the injury while lifting a jet ski a week ago.
Winkle said the world No. 12 ranked player initially felt back pains in January which forced him to withdrew from the Humana Challenge and it has been on and off ever since.
“His back bothered him from time to time. He kind of played through the pain, but it was never crippling,” AP quoted Winkle as saying.
“He rested it at Bay Hill, got back to working some last week, and tweaked it last week lifting a jet ski.”
The Masters get underway on Thursday with the likes of Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson all being in action throughout the day and Johnson, a five-time PGA Tour winner, though disappointed at not being able to feature – will be rooting for his colleagues.
He said on his official Twitter account: “You have no idea how much I wanted to walk the fairways at Augusta and fulfill what I’ve been practicing for!!
“I’ll have to root my buddies!.”
Woods, who recently won his first PGA title in two years, has been playing his way back to form and he will be hunting another jacket when he take the Augusta National course.
Players such as Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan, who have all had wins early in this season, are also expected to challenge for the title.
