Louis Oosthuizen, the runner-up at the 2012 Masters, withdrew from the 2022 iteration of the tournament due to injury.
Due to injury, Louis Oosthuizen has officially withdrawn from the Masters Tournament prior to the start of his second round. #themasters
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 8, 2022
The South African, who was placed in a group with Tiger Woods and Joaquin Niemann, was scheduled to tee off for the second round at 1:41 p.m.. Oosthuizen struggled at times during round one, shooting a 76 (+4) — which featured three bogeys and two double bogeys.
He was 40/1 to win The Masters.
Louis Oosthuizen's injury history
While Oosthuizen's injury that caused his withdraw is not immediately known, he had been hampered by injuries earlier in the season.
Oosthuizen pulled out of the RSM Classic last November due to a lower-back injury. He missed two months of tournament play.
The South African has a history of ailments: in 2013, Oosthuizen was forced out of the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship due to various back, hip and neck injuries. Last November, Oosthuizen stepped away from the RSM Classic in St. Simons, Georgia, due to back issues.
Oosthuizen, who hasn't won a major title since his sole British Open victory back in 2010, was expected to compete atop the scorecard at this year's Masters. He had six top-three finishes in 2021, placing second-place finish in the PGA Championship and tying for third at the British Open. As a result of his impressive displays in 2021, Oosthuizen had climbed all the way to the No. 9-ranking in the world by the end of the 2021 season.
Without Oosthuizen, Woods and Niemann's group becomes a duo. Niemann enters Friday's second round three-under par, one stroke off the lead at the time this article was published. Woods sits tied for 11th place with a score of one-under-par.
