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Andrew 'Beef' Johnston 'so pissed' after misdiagnosis that will likely cost him the entire DP World Tour season
Warren Little
Andrew 'Beef' Johnston's latest injury setback could cause him to miss the entire DP World Tour season. And the 36-year-old Englishman is particularly unhappy about it—because the situation probably could have been avoided.
Johnston, the fan favorite who rose to fame during the 2016 Open Championship, has faced a slew of injuries and mental health struggles in recent years. But his comeback seemed on a great path last year with a solid stretch of finishes on the DP World Tour, including a third-place at the OMEGA European Masters in September.
After falling out of the top 2,000 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Beef was back in the top 400 as the 2024-2025 season approached. But that's when a nagging thumb injury returned that has kept him out of action since the fall.
And last week, after seeing a specialist in Singapore, Johnston was given news that made the situation even worse: He had a complete ligament tear and a partial tear in two other tendons in his thumb.
“Are you f---ing kidding me? I wasted three months at the end of last season being misdiagnosed," Johnston told Alex Perry at Today's Golfer. “I was so pissed off with that. So angry."
In the meantime, Johnston, who described the misdiagnosis as a "Kick in the nuts," has been doing platelet-rich plasma or "PRP injections." He was hopeful the latest round would get him swinging a club again soon, but now he believes he'll likely have to miss the entire season.
“I had kept asking, ‘Do I need an MRI?’, and everyone was just telling me it wasn’t needed as it was looking alright on the ultrasounds," Johnston continued. “So basically I lost from the start of October until the start of January being told the wrong thing. If I’d found out at the start of that time, I could have had surgery and be back playing by now."
Johnston is a former DP World Tour winner who rose to No. 74 in the Official World Golf Ranking during his breakout year of 2016 that included an eighth-place finish at Royal Troon at the Open.
“If I’m honest, right now I am planning for next season," said Johnston, who also wrote about his unfortunate situation for Today's Golfer. “That breaks my heart.”