Thomas Levet has been forced to withdraw from next week’s Open at Royal St George’s after fracturing his shin jumping in a lake while celebrating his French Open win last Sunday.
Levet, who follows Tiger Woods in pulling out of the event at Sandwich, will have an operation tomorrow and expects to be out of action for six weeks.
The 42-year-old Frenchman has been replaced in the competition by America’s Robert Garrigus, with Anthony Kim, Simon Dyson and Thomas Bjorn - runner-up at Royal St George’s in 2003 after leading by three with four to play - the next three reserves.
“I am extremely disappointed to miss out on the Open Championship, but my specialist has advised me to have an operation on the fracture tomorrow morning,” said Levet, who was second to Ernie Els at Muirfield in 2002 after a five-hole play-off.
“I will have screws and a plate inserted which will ensure that my shin recovers completely. I will be off for six weeks, which is very bad timing with so many important tournaments coming up.
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“However, the wonderful memory of winning my national Open will definitely keep me going through my recovery.”
Levet, 42, came from three strokes behind at the start of the final round at Le Golf National, the host venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup, to claim victory by one stroke over Mark Foster, of England, and Thorbjorn Olesen, of Denmark.
He had a round of 70 that included four birdies and three bogeys for a seven under-par total of 277 and became the first home winner since Jean-François Remesy, who had back-to-back wins in 2004 and 2005.