Friday 13 July 2018 05:51, UK
Bryson DeChambeau vowed to "give it a go" at The 147th Open next week despite being forced to withdraw from the John Deere Classic towards the end of his first round.
DeChambeau complained of pain in his right shoulder after hitting his second shot from the rough on the second hole at TPC Deere Run, although he managed to get as far as the 16th green before deciding he could not complete his round.
The defending champion, who won his second PGA Tour title at The Memorial last month, recoiled while in mid-swing on the par-three 12th tee and was clearly struggling to take the club back.
DeChambeau would go on to bogey the hole, and another dropped shot at 15 saw him drop to three over for the day before he clutched his shoulder again after hitting his approach to the 16th.
He picked up his ball and informed his playing-partners, Davis Love III and Ryan Moore, that he was heading back to the physio unit for an initial diagnosis on what the injury may be.
The 24-year-old later emerged to face the media with his shoulder heavily strapped, but he insisted he would travel to Carnoustie for the third major of the year next week and remained confident of being able to tee up on Thursday.
"So, on the second out of rough on the right, I tried to hit a kind of open-faced five-iron and just slashed it out of there, but it was pretty thick rough," DeChambeau said. "I grabbed my shoulder and thought it was nothing much, and after that it was great.
"I was fine, but then on 10 when I hit that drive it wasn't great either and I started to feel something. Then on 11 you obviously saw me hit it way right, and on 12 when I took it back it literally gave out. I had nothing there. I tried to play through it, and obviously it wasn't going to work.
"I've had an initial screening and they said saw some instability in the joint obviously from muscles not firing properly and over-inflamed. Hopefully there is nothing more. I'm not in too much pain with my arms down; it's when my elbow gets above my shoulder that it really, really doesn't feel great."
DeChambeau is adamant that he will be fit to compete in The Open, and he can draw inspiration from his quick recovery from the back injury he suffered at the Valspar Championship in March as he went on to finish runner-up to Rory McIlroy at Bay Hill the following week.
"Oh, yeah, I'm not going to not make the trip," he added. "I feel like I can still swing and hit a shot, I just don't feel like it would be productive to do so here.
"I don't feel like it's going to be too long a recovery time. I had the same thing kind of happen to me at Valspar and it was a pretty bad injury on my back.
"I was able to recover and obviously finish second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, so my body is pretty resilient. I'm young, and I think I can recover in time."
