No official reason has been cited after Graeme McDowell withdrew having signed for a disappointing opening round 11-over par 81 at the ZoZo Championship in Japan.
McDowell’s effort, in his second event of the new 2019/20 PGA Tour wraparound season, in what is the first full-sanctioned PGA Tour tournament in Japan, sent the former US Open winner to the bottom of the board in the 78-player only field.
GMac’s round was devoid of any birdies but included four bogeys, two double-bogeys and a last hole triple bogey.
It left McDowell trailing a whopping 17 shots adrift of Tiger Woods who turned around three opening bogeys to then proceed to birdie nine of his closing 14 holes in a six-under par 64 on the host par-70 Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club course.
Irish Golfer Magazine contacted the PGA Tour to see if McDowell had cited a reason for his withdrawal, with the reply simply stating: “No reason given”.
McDowell had battled a left wrist injury early in the season that he managed to shake off and given his form over the past few weeks, we’re hoping he’ll be fit and firing again sooner rather than later.
He had recently been competing back on the European Tour but in failing to qualify for the season-ending ‘Final Series’, McDowell is committing himself to the ‘Fall Series’ on the PGA Tour.
In fact, the now 40-year old kick-started the new PGA Tour season in a soaring manner last week at the CJ Cup when he snatched two eagles, including an eagle ‘3’ at the 72nd hole, to share 16th place in South Korea.
Heavy saturating rain forced PGA Tour officials to postpone Friday’s second round, with play to resume at 6.30am local time Saturday.
Officials are confident the now limited 77-player field will see the event end on Sunday but if not, the Tour indicated play will go through to Monday.
Open Champion, Shane Lowry heads the Irish contingent in posting a one-over par 71 while Rory McIlroy also has work to do after signing for a disappointing two-over par 72.
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