Defending champion Brooks Koepka withdraws from THE CJ CUP with knee injury
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JEJU, SOUTH KOREA - OCTOBER 18: Brooks Koepka of the United States looks over a green on the 3rd hole during the second round of the CJ Cup @Nine Bridges at the Club a Nine Bridges on October 18, 2019 in Jeju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Defending champion Brooks Koepka has withdrawn from THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES with a knee injury.
After opening the tournament with rounds of 69-75 to sit T51 at even-par, Koepka has pulled the plug on the final two rounds. At this stage, there is no word on the seriousness of the flare-up.
Koepka admitted earlier this month he had undergone a painful stem cell procedure on his left knee during his offseason break, but in the lead-up to his title defense had claimed it was a non-issue.
He had a partially torn patella tendon and although the treatment had yet to fully run its course, the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Player of the Year believed he was 100 percent.
“My knee's fine, it feels good. It bugged me since March maybe, but everything's fine now,” Koepka said Tuesday.
“Did my rehab, my recovery and there shouldn't be any issues. There might be one more round of stem cells maybe, before hopefully the end of the year here during some off-time. But other than that, I feel great. My knee feels good. It's the first time it's been feeling consistently good in a while.”
The 29-year-old won on Jeju Island a year ago – one of his now-seven PGA TOUR titles – but has now started his 2019-20 season with a missed cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and this latest withdrawal.