Four-time winner of men's major golf championships and current World No 1 Rory Mcllroy is set to miss the British Open. The player has confirmed the same.
The 26-year-old was supposed to defend his Open Championship title this year, but a tragic accident turned out to be too heavy for him.
The Northern Irishman ruptured his ankle ligament while playing football with friends last week, and the golfer announced the news three days back through photo-sharing site Instagram.
In his latest post, Mcllroy has mentioned that despite the ongoing rehabilitation, he has decided not to play in the St. Andrews event starting later this month, and the decision has been taken after "much consideration".
"After much consideration, I have decided not to play in the Open Championship at St. Andrews," Mcllroy posted.
"I'm taking a long term view of this injury and, although rehab is progressing well, I want to come back to tournament, play when I feel 100% healthy and 100% competitive."
Twitterati as well as golfing fans around the world have poured messages of concern for the golfer following the tragic development, and that prompted Mcllroy to also take time out and thank his fans for all the support; he is also hoping to be back on the course as soon as he can.
"Thank you for all your support and best wishes. I hope to be back on the course as soon as I can," he added.
One of the three players (apart from Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus) to have won three of golf's modern majors by the age of 25, Mcllroy was supposed to play in the Scottish Open last week.
With Mcllroy now being forced to withdraw the competition, the attention turns to World No 2 Jordan Spieth of America, who now becomes the favourite to win the British Open title this year.
However, taking the on-course rivalry aside, the double major winner sympathised with Mcllroy and said that there is nothing wrong in players having a life outside their sport, as he described the incident as "unlucky and unfortunate".
"It's unlucky, it's unfortunate and I'm sure he's taking it harder on himself than anybody else," Spieth said.
"But I don't think he did anything wrong. It just was an unfortunate situation and hopefully he rebounds quickly and gets back right to where he was."
Every golfing fan is now set to miss out on the rivalry of the two in the British Open stage, and Spieth has also dealt on this fact.
"It kind of dampens it. You want the defending champion, much less the best player in the world at the event," the American added.
"You want all fields to be full strength no matter who it is. Losing the No1 player in the world for a major championship would be tough.'
The 2015 Open Championship will be held from 16 to 19 July at Old Course at St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. It will be the 29th Open Championship to be played at St Andrews.
