[PHOTO: Lionel Ng]

Jon Rahm has withdrawn from the 2024 US Open due to injury.

Rahm, a two-time major winner including the 2021 US Open, had pulled out of LIV Golf’s Houston event last weekend, citing an infected sore between his toes on his left foot as the problem.

“We’ve been trying to figure it out because I think that the closest term would be a lesion on the skin,” Rahm explained on Tuesday morning (Pinehurst time) during his pre-championship press conference at Pinehurst No.2. “If I were to show you, it’s a little low in between my pinky toe and the next toe. I don’t know how or what happened, but it got infected. The pain was high. On the Saturday round, Saturday morning, I did get a shot to numb the area. It was supposed to last the whole round, and by my second hole I was in pain already.

“The infection was the worrisome part. The infection is now controlled, but there’s still swelling and there’s still pain. There’s a reason I walked out here in a shoe and a flip-flop (thong), trying to keep the area dry and trying to get that to heal as soon as possible. But I can only do what I can do. The human body can only work so fast.”

When asked during the press conference if there was a chance he could pull out with the issue lingering, Rahm replied, “I don’t know.” Then just hours later, Rahm announced via social media that he would not be teeing it up on Thursday at Pinehurst’s No.2 course.

“After consulting with numerous doctors and my team, I have decided it is best for my long-term health, to withdraw from this week’s US Open Championship,” Rahm said in a statement. “To say I’m disappointed is a massive understatement! I wish all my peers the best of luck and want to thank all of the USGA staff, volunteers and community of Pinehurst for hosting and putting on what I’m sure will be an amazing championship! Hopefully I’ll be back in action sooner than later!”

The move is the latest in a turbulent past six months for Rahm. Despite his insistence that he had no interest in the Saudi-backed circuit, Rahm reversed course last December and signed with LIV Golf. He’s currently second in LIV’s individual season standings but has yet to win against the limited fields. Rahm has also struggled in the first half of the major season, finishing T-45 at the Masters and missing the cut at the PGA Championship.

At the end of his press conference, Rahm pushed back against the notion that he’s having a rough year.

“I’m in a happy place. It’s not like I’ve been playing bad, even though a lot of you make it sound like I’m playing bad. I had two bad weeks,” Rahm explained. “I’ve been top 10 and had a chance to win in most of the tournaments I’ve played, and then unfortunately Augusta and PGA wasn’t my best showings.

“But yeah, I’m happy. I mean, it’s been a wonderful career so far. And yeah, it hasn’t been the best first half of the year, but there’s been many times where I haven’t had a great start, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great finish.”

Rahm captured the US Open in 2021 at Torrey Pines for his major breakthrough, and finished T-10 at last year’s championship at Los Angeles Country Club.

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