Viktor Hovland showed up to the Travelers Championship on Sunday intending to build on his third-round 63, which put him in striking distance of the top 10 in the final Signature Event of the season. He ended up leaving TPC River Highlands before he could even get to work in the final round.
Hovland, who went 66-75 before bouncing back on Saturday, warmed up on the range and said he felt great. He planned on hitting just a few more drivers before heading to the first tee.
“Hit one shot and then felt a little bit in my neck, but it didn’t, it felt fine, didn’t feel hardly anything at all,” Hovland said. “Just felt like something was maybe brewing.”
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The seven-time PGA Tour winner hit one final driver and then realized something potentially serious was up.Â
“Then the next shot that I hit with a driver it just felt like, yeah, it just cracked,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but there’s something that happened and just couldn’t move.”
Hovland, who finished solo third last week in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, had someone look at his neck with just five minutes until his tee time. Once they realized it just wouldn’t be doable, Hovland had to make the tough decision to withdraw.Â
“It was just moving around. I could hardly just stand over the ball and move my neck. Couldn’t really do anything.”
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Hovland was set to play alongside Scottie Scheffler and Taylor Pendrith, who will now be a twosome.Â
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com