Friday 7 April 2017 07:07, UK
Dustin Johnson could not hide his disappointment after being forced to pull out of the Masters due to a back injury suffered in a "freak accident".
Johnson sustained a bruised back and left elbow after slipping on a staircase at his rented house in Augusta on Wednesday afternoon, and he made the decision to withdraw just moments before he was scheduled to tee off in the final group of the first round along with Jimmy Walker and Bubba Watson.
The world No 1 "tried everything" to have the problem treated in time to be ready, but he was in obvious discomfort while on the practice range with coaches Butch and Claude Harmon, and he admitted the pain prevented him from making a full swing.
The reigning US Open champion left the range and headed for the first tee, but he took another couple of practice swings and realised he would not be able to compete on a blustery opening day and walked to the clubhouse to inform officials of his withdrawal.
"It's tough and I want to play," said Johnson, who went into the first major of the year on the back of three consecutive victories. "This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year, I'm playing the best golf of my life and to have a freak accident happen. It sucks really bad.
"I was doing everything I could to try to play. Last night was ice, heat, ice and I was up pretty much all night trying to get it ready. I have been worked on all morning and obviously I can take some swings, but I can't swing full, I can't make my normal swing and I didn't think there was any chance I could compete.
"I could swing but maybe 70 per cent was about max, and it still hurt. I could take it back, but it was impact and through impact that it would catch. My heart was in it and I wanted to play, but the more I thought about it, I wasn't going to have any chance."
Asked to describe how the accident happened, Johnson added: "I was wearing socks and slipped and went down three stairs. The left side of my lower back took the brunt of it and my left elbow is bruised as well.
"I feel like in two days, I'll be fine. If it happened on Monday, I don't think we would have any issues but it happened Wednesday afternoon."
This is the second time in five years that Johnson has had to pull out of the Masters, having strained his back while lifting a jet ski ahead of the tournament in 2012.
