Wrist injury ends Karlsson's French Open

Former European number one Robert Karlsson pulled out of the Alstom French Open with a wrist injury this morning and will not play again until The Open at St Andrews in two weeks.

“I woke up this morning and it was sore and swollen,” said the 40-year-old Swede, who missed The Open last year with a retina problem that kept him out of the game for nearly four months.

“I got some treatment and the swelling went down.”

But when he tried to hit some balls, Karlsson added: “I could hardly hit it 50 metres and the swelling came back.”

Karlsson lost a play-off to Lee Westwood in Memphis three weeks ago, but after finishing 27th in the US Open the following week he missed the cut in Munich and then opened with a four over par 76 at Le Golf National near Paris yesterday. It left him 13 adrift of leader Robert-Jan Derksen.

“I played pretty poorly and I caught a couple of shots fat on the hard ground, so I think I know what caused the injury.

“I was going to play the JP McManus Pro-am in Ireland on Monday and Tuesday, but I won’t be doing that now and I wasn’t entered for the Scottish Open, so it’s The Open next.”

Karlsson, one of the stars of Europe’s last Ryder Cup side, lies only 30th on the points list for the match at Celtic Manor in October.

Meanwhile, England’s Ross McGowan, who is in fifth place, was going for a scan on his wrist today.

The Dubai World Championship runner-up has been bothered since the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May and withdrew from the French Open before the start.

Derksen led by three following his brilliant opening 63 – one outside the course record – and world number three Lee Westwood remained seven behind after resuming with four straight pars on the back nine.

He was partnering only Argentina’s Angel Cabrera after Karlsson’s exit, while Darren Clarke was also in a two-ball with Frenchman Jean-Francois Remesy.

That was because South African Louis Oosthuizen did not start the event and there was no reserve on hand to take his place.