By BRIAN WACKER
It’s safe to say at this point anyone in Dustin Johnson’s family should avoid a house with stairs.
Two years ago, Johnson suffered a back injury on the eve of the Masters when he slipped and fell going down a staircase in his rental house in Augusta, Georgia. He withdrew from the tournament the next day despite entering the week as the heavy favourite to win.
On Sunday night, it was Johnson’s brother (and caddie), Austin, who stumbled while going up a set of stairs in their rented house after the final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Austin suffered a broken bone in his left hand.
“Those stairs, man, they’ll get you,” Dustin Johnson said from this week’s Valspar Championship. “He was carrying the stuff in the house after TPC on Sunday night and slipped going up the stairs.”
The injury resulted in the younger Johnson’s arm being put in a cast. Despite this, however, Austin will still be able to caddie for his brother this week at Innisbrook Resort.
As bizarre as it may be, the Johnson brothers are hardly alone when it comes to weird golf mishaps. Brandt Snedeker and Jesper Parnevik suffered separate injuries while using Segways. Jamie Donaldson nearly cut off a finger on his left hand while using a chainsaw. Skip Kendall sliced off the top of his left index finger while cutting a bagel, requiring two-hour surgery to sew it back on. Jim Furyk pulled a muscle brushing his teeth. Ernie Els ruptured his ACL while tubing, Rory McIlroy ruptured an ankle ligament playing soccer and Sam Torrance tackled a Yucca plant in the middle of the night that he thought was an intruder, causing him to break a toe and miss his singles match at the 1993 Ryder Cup.
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Johnson, who is ranked No.1 in the world, is coming off a tie for fifth at the Players Championship. He’s making his first appearance at the Valspar tournament since 2010 when he missed the cut.
