Players Championship 2018: Brooks Koepka re-injures wrist in fluky range accident, plays anyway

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Brooks Koepka re-injured his left wrist practicing on Wednesday at TPC Sawgrass, but was able to tee off for the opening round of the Players Championship anyway.

The reigning U.S. Open champion, who returned from a three-month layoff a couple of weeks ago at the Zurich Classic, was practicing on the far end of the range when a golf cart drove in front of him and he was forced to stop mid-swing.

“It was pretty sore,” said Koepka, who started his warm-up session Thursday morning by teeing up a sand wedge and hitting balls only about 20 yards before eventually taking fuller shots. “The whole range session beforehand was pretty pathetic.”

As a precaution, Koepka had an MRI and X-ray done on the wrist on Wednesday—forcing him to miss the U.S. Ryder Cup hopefuls dinner held at captain Jim Furyk’s house—and received treatment before his round Thursday morning. He went out and shot a two-under 70 with two birdies and no bogeys.

Though it took a while for the wrist to loosen up, he said, he didn’t want to withdraw from another big PGA Tour event after being forced to miss the Masters last month.

“I fought through the [last injury], I’m not gonna quit,” he said. “Going to the tee I still felt like I could win the tournament.”

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