Brendan Jones turns down the offer to play in place of Tiger Woods at The Open
In a surprise move, the world number 68 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), Aussie Brendan Jones has turned down an offer to play at the Open Championship as a replacement for Tiger Woods.
While many golf critics have the opinion that Jones has rejected to play in place of the morally derailed Woods on ethical grounds, the Aussie has turned the decision down as a repercussion of the impending arrival of his second child.
“I got a phone call from the R and A last night and was told there was going to be a withdrawal and that was Tiger Woods and I was the next person on the list in the field,” he said on his website. “I explained because of an impending birth (I couldn't attend).”
Jones, who had a lackluster year and was not able to make it into the Open field, was the early reserve for the championship, scheduled next week at the Royal St. George’s at Sandwich. Jones is sitting on the edge for a long time and it was imminent that
after Vijay Singh, Woods and Thomas Levet’s possible pull out, he will make it into the Open Championship. But it is far more surprising that a golfer of Jones’ calibre would opt out of the third major of the season on barely logical grounds.
“I have known all year the baby was due around the British Open, I was always going to be around for (the birth). It would be disappointing not to be there but I have known for some time that I could not be there,” Jones added.
The 36-year-old Jones, native of West Wyalong, New South Wales, has played most of his rounds on the Japan Golf Tour after turning professional in 1999. He has 12 professional wins under his belt with ten of them coming on the JGT. He has never won an event
on the PGA or the European Tour and has just one title victory on the Nationwide Tour at the 2004 LaSalle Bank Open.
Jones’ best finish in a major came in 2009 when he posted a joint 29th at the PGA Championship. Jones’ first professional title came after two-and-a-half years of playing as a professional golfer at the Asia-pacific Panasonic Open on JGT.
Meanwhile, Woods, who has been battering a lingering knee inflation and continued Achilles in both legs, is currently under a rehab which has extended to cost him the third major of the season. The 14-major winner has not played since his last appearance
at the Players Championship in May where he had to withdraw after an aggravated knee injury after just nine holes.
Woods’ fans and critics are weighing the possibility of his participation in the last major of the season, the PGA Championship next month scheduled at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Georgia.
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