Brandt Snedeker is having an excellent start to the 2013 PGA Tour season, winning his fifth career tournament on Sunday, but things will slow down for a bit as he announced on Tuesday that he will not play in the first World Golf Championship event of the year.
According to ESPN.com, Snedeker will miss the WGC event due to sore ribs, leaving him on the sidelines when the tournament event comes to Marana, Arizona next week. Snedeker is the fourth-ranked player in the world and before winning Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he already finished second in two tournaments.
Snedeker said that the injury was suffered at the Humana Challenge last month and decided to play things cautiously after sustaining a similar injury last year. He missed the U.S. Open due to a rib issue and then returned to finish the British Open tied for third place.
According to a statement from Crown Sports Management, Snedeker will visit with his personal doctor, who has said that rest is the best way to recover from the injury. The next chance Snedeker is scheduled to play is March 7-10 in the Cadillac Championship at Doral.
''Five out of six weeks, you're going to be sore, so looking forward to next week off,'' he said Saturday.
Snedeker has been playing out of his mind over the past few rounds, shooting the past 10 in the 60s, including a 7-under-65 on Sunday to finish the Pro-am. He finished second two weeks in a row at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but his injury flared up on Thursday last week.
With Snedeker out of the event, 66th-ranked Fredrik Jacobson will now be part of the WGC-Accenture Match Play.
''I'm really happy to be part of it now and get a chance to play a little more golf that week,'' Jacobson said to the Associated Press. ''You never know how much golf you get to play, but I know I'm going to get there and play some golf.''
Another big name in Phil Mickelson will also be missing the tournament, but it's not due to injury, just a family event and vacation he had been planning.
Snedeker is the top earner on the tour this year so far, making $2,859,920, while also leading the FedEx Cup race by 700 points over Brian Gay, who is in second place. Snedeker has played very consistently all year, finishing under par in all but one round this season.
According to the AP, he has finished in the top three in six of his nine PGA Tour events dating back to last summer.
