[Photo: Orlando Ramirez]
Early Thursday, in the midst of Collin Morikawa’s withdrawal from the Players Championship due to a back injury, with all eyes on Rory McIlroy to see whether his own back injury would keep him from making his afternoon tee time, the PGA Tour communications team fired out news of yet another withdrawal:
Ryan Fox (illness) WD prior to his first round of THE PLAYERS Championship.
David Ford replaces Fox in the 1:18 p.m. tee time off No. 10 with Chris Kirk and Keegan Bradley.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 12, 2026
It was not immediately clear why New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, World No. 44, had backed out of the Players (other than the “illness” cited by the tour), but Fox himself cleared that up in a social media post Thursday afternoon:
https://twitter.com/deepdivegolf/status/2032190940170109246?s=46&t=Jz-SjFKOt0szrcq7yaQpKQ
“Not exactly the week I had planned here at the Players”, he wrote. “Unfortunately, some kidney stones took me down on Tuesday night, then had to be dealt with surgically this afternoon. Devastated to miss out on such an amazing event, hoping to have a quick recovery and be back at it soon. #foxtracker”
Thankfully, kidney stones typically do not result in long-lasting damage, but ask anybody who has had one, and they will tell you it is one of the most painful experiences possible, particularly if they reach the stage where surgical intervention is necessary. Playing golf while dealing with them? Totally out of the question. We wish Fox a speedy recovery and the best hospital food possible.
