Players Championship: Ryan Fox Reveals Reason For Withdrawal

A composite picture of New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox out on tje course and in a hospital bed after having kidney stones removed — (Image credit: Getty Images / Instagram: ryanfoxgolfer)

Ryan Fox has revealed the painful reason he had to withdraw from The Players Championship as he posted a pictiure from a hospital bed to explain.

Fox pulled out of the PGA Tour's flagship event shortly before the start of the first round at TPC Sawgrass, with first reserve David Ford getting his spot in the field.

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Fox says he was struck down with the kidney stones on Tuesday night before having surgery on Thursday to rectify the problem.

"Not exactly the week I had planned here @theplayers. Unfortunately some kidney stones took me down on Tuesday night and then had to be dealt with surgically this afternoon," Fox wrote on Instagram.

"Devastated to miss out on such an amazing event, hoping to have a quick recovery and be back at it soon."

A post shared by Ryan Fox (@ryanfoxgolfer)
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While Fox's withdrawal is perfectly understandable, the timeline of events raised some questions as his withdrawal was not made official until Thursday morning.

He was the second withdrawal on Thursday as Collin Morikawa tweaked his back after playing just one hole at Sawgrass and had to pull out.

Bettors and fantasy sports backers were dismayed with Morikawa's withdrawal after just a hole, and some are now wondering why Fox was only officially withdrawn hours before his tee time when such a serious health issue was known on Tuesday.

That's obviously no slight on Fox of course and as he was in hospital dealing with what is a hugely painful medical condition there was likely a delay in communication with the PGA Tour.

The subject of timings of withdrawals is a common bugbear of fans who bet or play fantasy sports, but the PGA Tour assured Golf Monthly that it processes player withdrawals as soon as it is notified.

"Once the player informs Competitions about the WD, there is little to no delay with that WD getting processed and the first alternate informed," a PGA Tour spokesman told Golf Monthly.

"Ryan Fox informed the PGA Tour of his WD on Thursday morning, with the WD immediately processed per the Tour’s policy at 7:56 am.

"The WD was made public a few minutes later."

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.

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