Defending US Open champion Justin Rose has pulled out of next week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship after revealing he is yet to recover fully from the right shoulder injury that hampered the last few events of his 2013 season.
The 32-year-old Rose was planning to begin his 2014 campaign with a second successive trip to the UAE capital, and then return to United States for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines the week after.
Rose, the world No4, is dealing with a mild case of tendinitis in his right shoulder, something that he picked up during the ‘Final Series’ of the European Tour last year.
He needed pain-killers to compete at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November.
Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports, said on Friday that “the doctor’s reports are positive, but with rest and rehab as the only means of recovery, he will be forced to delay his start to the 2014 calendar season and will unfortunately miss the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open.
“With this necessary time to heal, Justin likely will return to action in February.”
Rose recently spent time in a skiing resort in Aspen with his family, but refrained from indulging in the sport himself.
His wife Kate tweeted about the role-reversal, saying Rose was reduced to a mere “spectator”.
The Englishman had also hinted last year that he’d possibly be pulling out of this year’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, which will be held in February third week in Tucson.
The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship will be played January 16-19, and despite the absence of Rose, will boast of an extremely strong field that includes world No3 and reigning FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai champion Henrik Stenson, No5 and defending Open champion Phil Mickelson and world No6 Rory McIlroy.
