Injury forces Donald outof BellSouth
The 27-year-old, joint runner-up in the Players Championship on Monday after that event was hit by bad weather too, contacted officials to say he felt the problem at a testing centre after his Wednesday pro-am.
Donald was one of 25 players in the field who are also competing at Augusta National next week and he had admitted that he arrived at the tournament mentally and physically drained after playing 33 holes at Sawgrass two days earlier.
“Last week was obviously a very long week and I was very, very tired,” said the Ryder Cup star, now up to 16th in the world. “It was mental and physical having to play almost two rounds in one day in wet conditions and windy conditions.
“Wind really does take it out of you physically. Having to dig deep mentally on the last few holes really took a lot out of me too.”
He appeared for the curtain-raising pro-am - a failure to do so would have meant disqualification from the tournament - but made an early morning decision not to be part of what looks certain to be another disrupted weekend.
More thunderstorms are predicted for today and 36 holes on Sunday or even another Monday finish is a distinct possibility.
The Classic becomes the eighth US Tour event out of 14 this season to be affected by the weather.
Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and five Europeans - Ian Woosnam, Joakim Haeggman, Thomas Levet, Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez - are among the 24 Augusta-bound players still in Atlanta. Mickelson said playing on Monday again was no problem for him. He went to Augusta on Tuesday to practise in peace and quiet and was not planning to go back there until next Tuesday.
“It wouldn’t bother me in the least,” he said of the prospect of being kept in Atlanta an extra day.
“I think this tournament should have the respect given to all of the others.”
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