This column will provide any field updates, injury news, and other player notes in the days leading up to the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Field Changes (-): Nicolai Hojgaard, Sam Ryder, Beau Hossler, Peter Malnati, and Callum Tarren all withdrew over the weekend.
Field Changes (+): Greg Chalmers, Derek Lamely, Scott Brown, and Ben Crane were added to the field over the weekend.
Field Changes (-): Jordan Spieth, Lanto Griffin, Michael Thompson, and Camilo Villegas withdrew on Monday.
Field Changes (+): D.J. Trahan, George McNeill, Mac Meissner, and Kyle Stanley entered the field on Monday.
Field Changes (-): J.J. Spaun, Mark Hubbard, and Alex Smalley withdrew on Tuesday.
Field Changes (+): Ted Potter Jr., Kevin Stadler, and Richard S. Johnson entered the field on Tuesday.
Field Changes (-): Hank Lebioda withdrew on Wednesday.
Field Changes (+): Tommy Gainey entered the field on Wednesday.
Open Qualifiers (+): Jeffrey Kang, Bobby Massa, Taylor Bibbs, and Logan McCracken.
Sponsor Exemptions: Sangmoon Bae, Parker Coody, Pierceson Coody, Peter Kuests, David Micheluzzi, D.A. Points, Roger Sloan, Bo Van Pelt, Mac Meissner.
The World No. 2 returns to action after skipping his first designated event last week. Scheffler has finished T15 and T47 in his two previous starts at the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch.
Matsuyama also returns after missing last week's Wells Fargo Championship due to injury. He has not played in an event since finishing T16 at The Masters last month. Matsuyama finished T3 at last year's AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch.
Wise is set to return to the PGA Tour this week after announcing on March 31st that he would be stepping away from the game in order to focus on his mental health. He's finished T51 and T55 in his two previous starts at TPC Craig Ranch.
Spieth withdrew from the AT&T Byron Nelson on Monday citing a left wrist injury. He announced the news on Twitter in a short posting saying that he had experienced "severe pain" in his left wrist and was told by doctors that the injury requires rest and limited movement.
Spieth added that he will evaluate his recovery "week to week," which suggests there's a chance that he could miss next week's PGA Championship if the wrist injury does not improve over the next 10 days or so.
George Savaricas gave some more insight on Twitter into Spieth's injury and what it could mean for the PGA Championship. According to Savaricas, Spieth is dealing with an injury to the tendon in his left wrist. The plan is to rest and do physical therapy until Friday and then evaluate where he is prep-wise for the PGA. Savaricas also notes that Spieth is 50-50 to play in the PGA Championship.
Matsuyama returns to action at the AT&T Byron Nelson after missing last week's Wells Fargo Championship due to a neck injury.
According to a statement from PGA Tour Communications on April 28th, Matsuyama returned home to Japan after The Masters in order to receive treatment for his neck. However, according to the statement, Matsuyama's neck had not improved enough for him to compete at Quail Hollow last week.
Matsuyama has dealt with this neck issue intermittently for the past two seasons. It will continue to be something to monitor whenever Matsuyama tees it up in an event on the PGA Tour.
Woods announced on April 19th that he underwent a subtalar fusion procedure to address his post-traumatic arthritis from a previous talus fracture. He is currently recovering and looks forward to beginning his rehabilitation.
The 15-time major champion withdrew in his most recent start at The Masters, citing a reaggravation of his plantar fasciitis after being seen walking with a noticeably worse limp during the third round. In February, Woods expressed his goal to play in all of the major championships this year. However, given this news of another ankle surgery and upcoming rehab, expectations should be tempered for Woods' chances at playing in the next three majors.
There's currently no official timetable for Woods' return.
Wise is listed in the field for this week's AT&T Byron Nelson. He'll return to the PGA Tour after missing just over a month after deciding to step away from golf in order to focus on his mental health.
Wise announced in an Instagram story on March 31st that he would not be playing in The Masters.
IG post from 3/31:
“Golf is just as much a mental game as it is one of physical skill, and the mental piece of it has been a struggle for me recently. I don’t take the significance of playing at Augusta lightly, but know that I need to take some time away to focus on my mental health so I can get back to compete at a level I am proud of.”
It appears that Wise has taken the time away from the game that he needs and will now return to action at TPC Craig Ranch.
Berger is hopeful to make his return to the PGA Tour sometime in May, per Daniel Rapaport of Barstool Sports. The four-time winner has been sidelined since the 2022 U.S. Open.
Berger tried to play through this injury last season but said “that was definitely not the answer.” Instead, Berger has opted to take a more patient approach in his recovery. According to Rapaport, Berger has begun ramping up practice, and though he’s set no official timeline for a return it appears Berger could come back to the TOUR in May.
MAY 2ND UPDATE:
This article from AP News provides background and insight into the back injury Berger has been dealing with for the past year. In the article, Berger notes that it's not a career-ending injury but knows it'll be a challenge to get back to where he was as a top player in the world.
Berger has been posting clips on his Instagram account of him swinging a golf club, suggesting that his return could come soon though there is no official date or tournament that he's committed to yet.
Zalatoris announced on his Instagram account on April 10th that he underwent successful surgery on his back and will now miss the rest of the season.
Zalatoris withdrew just prior to his first-round tee time at The Masters. As it turns out, Zalatoris was dealing with the same back issues (herniated discs) that caused him to be out for the last four months of 2022. Zalatoris has had a very promising start to his career, winning his first PGA Tour event last summer at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but will now miss at least another five months following a microdiscectomy.
I've seen some confusion out there–this is the first time Zalatoris is having back surgery. He did NOT have surgery in 2022.
Brehm is listed in the field for this week's AT&T Byron Nelson. He withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship last Tuesday. It was the third consecutive event that Brehm has WD'd from.
According to a tweet from Tony Paul of Detroit News on April 20th, Brehm suffered a tricep injury prior to the start of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Paul noted that Brehm said he couldn't make a driver swing.
Malnati withdrew from last week's Wells Fargo Championship during the first round due to a back injury. He was originally listed in the field for the AT&T Byron Nelson but pulled out of the field on Sunday (May 7th).
Putnam withdrew from last week's Wells Fargo Championship during the first round due to a back injury. He was seven strokes over par through 15 holes at Quail Hollow last Thursday when Putnam decided to call it quits. This was the first time this season that Putnam has WD'd from an event due to a back injury.
Putnam was never listed in the field for this week's AT&T Byron Nelson.
Holmes withdrew from last week's Wells Fargo Championship prior to his first-round tee time due to a back injury. The 41-year-old is playing under a major medical extension this season after being sidelined with a back injury for all of last season. Holmes has made just two cuts in eight starts on the PGA Tour this season.
Vegas announced on his personal Twitter account on April 27th that he suffered an elbow injury related to the one that plagued him last year. He underwent surgery in April of 2022, and then later in the year Vegas opted to take the entire Fall portion of the PGA Tour schedule off due to this recurrent injury.
The 38-year-old has not played in a PGA Tour event since the Valspar Championship last month. Vegas said the recovery is taking longer than he expected but is working hard to return as soon as possible.
Yu underwent surgery on February 20th for a torn meniscus, which will sideline him for an unknown amount of time.
The rookie was having an excellent first season on the PGA Tour with seven made cuts in 10 starts, one top-5 finish, and two top-10 finishes. In his last start before the injury, Yu finished T7 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Barnes underwent knee surgery on April 3rd and is without a timetable for his return to the PGA Tour.
The 35-year-old rookie posted on Twitter that he was having reconstructive surgery on his MPFL and a repair of his MCL. Barnes said he's battled knee subluxation issues for the last couple of years which have worsened over the past few weeks. According to Barnes' social media post, the surgery was successful but he expects a long road in his recovery and eventual return to the PGA Tour.
Huh has yet to play in an event in 2023 due to elbow tendinitis. His last start came at The RSM Classic (November 20th, 2022).
Knowles announced on his Instagram account on May 1st that he severed a nerve in his thumb on February 1st, underwent surgery on February 24th, and started swinging a golf club again on April 14th.
He noted that (as of May 1st) he's nearly back to full function but "range of motion is limited due to scar tissue" and "lack of sensation in the outside part of my thumb."
Knowles is currently without a timeline for returning to the PGA Tour.
Whaley is listed in the field for this week's AT&T Byron Nelson. He's missed the last seven months due to an undisclosed injury (his last start came at the Shriners Children's Open last October).
Wu returns to action at the AT&T Byron Nelson after deciding to skip last week's designated event.
He withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship last Monday for an undisclosed reason. Coming off a 3rd place finish at the Mexico Open, this stood out as an interesting decision for Wu to skip out on an elevated event while in form. It notably would have been Wu's fourth consecutive event played. Wu appears to have just taken a week off to rest following a busy stretch of golf.
Day will tee it up for the second week in a row. He's not dealing with a specific injury, but last week Day revealed that he's been dealing with vertigo at times this season.
MAY 3RD UPDATE:
During Day's pre-tournament press conference for the Wells Fargo Championship, he revealed that he suffered vertigo during the final round of The Masters (April 9th). This caused Day to skip RBC Heritage the following week in order to run some tests.
Day attributed vertigo at Augusta, in part, to stress:
"I've been playing a lot better so there's obviously more stress and when you have more stress, your immune system can get compromised and for me it was just unfortunate that happened in the last round. But I've had three weeks off and I feel like I'm getting a handle on it, which is good, so it will just take some time."
"Overall I know exactly what happened. It is obviously the stress of playing the game, and I understand there's obviously competitive stress and there's stress outside the game that is totally separate that everyone goes through as well. When you put yourself under stressful conditions all the time, sooner or later your immune systems get compromised. I wasn't eating as healthy as I should have, so I made some changes to my diet."
"I just needed to take some time off, that was pretty much plain and simple. And then obviously on top of it just rework how I come to the golf course and work as well."
One last thing to note is that Day said he also suffered a small bout of vertigo at the Dell Match Play event two weeks before The Masters. Day said, "I didn't want to talk about it too much, especially the Match Play because it was just a small bout of it, but it really kicked by butt at Augusta. That was like kind of the time where I had to take a step back."
Kisner remains out after he withdrew from the RBC Heritage after the first round (April 13th). It's currently unclear what exactly Kisner is dealing with at the moment, or if his absence is injury related at all. His status is one to monitor.
Taylor remains out due to the expected arrival of his second child. He did not play in last week's Wells Fargo Championship and is also not in the field for this week's AT&T Byron Nelson.
MacIntyre withdrew after round one of the Italian Open on the DP World Tour this past week due to a back injury. He said that he would rest this upcoming week before competing at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Prior to the WD at the Italian Open, MacIntyre had posted four consecutive top-7 finishes.