Brooks Koepka will be absent from the U.S. Open next week at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. That’s disappointing news for golf fans, considering Koepka has won two of the past three U.S. Opens, but not necessarily bad news for competitors hoping to carry off the trophy themselves.
Koepka made the announcement through Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
“Unfortunately, I have decided to withdraw from next week’s U.S. Open. I’m looking forward to getting healthy and competing at 100% again very soon,” he wrote.
Koepka last competed at the Wyndham Championship, where he missed the cut a week after contending through 54 holes at the PGA Championship but ultimately finishing T-29 there.
Koepka was 25-under at the US Open from 2017-19, the best three-year stretch by score to par in the history of the Championship. https://t.co/4R8HJmsXvN
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) September 9, 2020
The four-time major champion traveled to TPC Boston for the Northern Trust, the first stop of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but did not practice and withdrew before the tournament, citing a knee and hip-related injury.
After missing the cut at the Wyndham, Koepka told reporters that he was favoring his left leg, but the issue was not with his knee. He said that he planned to rest over the weekend instead of practicing.
Koepka underwent a stem cell procedure on his left knee in September after struggling with a partially torn patella tendon last season. He re-aggravated the knee after slipping on wet concrete at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The two-time PGA Championship winner said walking downhill was still “a pain” on his injured knee during tournaments in July.
