Two-time major champion Jon Rahm has withdrawn from the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
The Spaniard was struggling with an infection in his left foot and the issue forced him to withdraw after six holes of his second round at LIV Golf Houston on Saturday. While the infection was reportedly healing, Rahm decided to rest his body and pull out of the U.S. Open.
In a statement posted to social media, Rahm said: “After consulting with numerous doctors and my team, I have decided it is best for my long term health, to withdraw from this weeks US Open Championship. To say I’m disappointed is a massive understatement!
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“I wish all my peers the best of luck and want to thank all of the USGA staff, volunteers and community of Pinehurst for hosting and putting on what I’m sure will be an amazing championship! Hopefully I'll be back in action sooner than later!”
On Tuesday, Rahm spoke about his foot injury and told reporters : “Oh, it's a concern. It's doing better. It's doing better. But definitely still in pain.
“We've been trying to figure it out because I think that the closest term would be a lesion on the skin. If I were to show you, it's a little low in between my pinky toe and the next toe. I don't know how or what happened, but it got infected. The pain was high.
“On the Saturday round, Saturday morning, I did get a shot to numb the area. It was supposed to last the whole round, and by my second hole I was in pain already. The infection was the worrisome part. The infection is now controlled, but there's still swelling and there's still pain.
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“There's a reason I walked out here in a shoe and a flip-flop, trying to keep the area dry and trying to get that to heal as soon as possible. But I can only do what I can do. The human body can only work so fast.”
While Rahm had told reporters he believes he can win whenever he tees off at any course, his condition left him with no hope for success at Pinehurst. As a result, Rahm has withdrawn just over a day before the U.S. Open tees off.
Rahm was three-under-par when he pulled out of LIV Golf's event last week, but the agony as he took his shots was too much to bear. The foot infection first reared its head in the opening round when Rahm teed off at the par-three seventh, leaving him wincing in pain as he limped off camera. Houston was Rahm’s first competitive appearance since the PGA Championship too, where he missed the cut last month despite shooting one-under at Valhalla.