Adam Scott (AFP)
Home star Adam Scott, among the favourites to win this week's Australian Open, has pulled out of the tournament after failing to recover from a dislocated knee.
The world number 16 said he was disappointed at having to withdraw from the 1.5 million dollar (984,000 US) event but wanted to avoid aggravating the problem after a string of injuries this year.
The 28-year-old hurt his right knee while running out of the surf 10 days ago, also forcing him to pull out of last week's Australian PGA Championship in Coolum.
He had hoped to recover in time for the Open, in which he was grouped with US PGA Tour regular Stuart Appleby and defending champion Craig Parry, but his spot will now be taken by 22-year-old Australian amateur Brett Rankin.
"I just didn't get enough time to recover from dislocating my knee cap," Scott told reporters via telephone from his Queensland home.
"There's still some swelling and I can't actually walk properly at the moment and I still can't extend my leg fully -- it's not really the hitting that's the problem, it's the walking."
Scott, who won two tournaments earlier this year, has been blighted by injuries recently, including breaking a bone in his hand when he closed a car door on it.
The latest setback comes as he was hopeful of playing well on home soil in a field that also includes Australia's Robert Allenby, European Ryder Cup veteran Darren Clarke, US star John Daly and 2006 Australian Open winner John Senden.
"Leading up to Coolum I worked quite hard on my game and made a few changes and I was really feeling quite good about my golf and I thought I could have a good run here in the Aussie events," he said.
"So that was disappointing because, for the first time in a while, I'd seen some big improvement and good feeling in my golf game and I didn't even get to take that out on the golf course in the end."
The Australian Open begins at Royal Sydney Golf Club at Rose Bay on Thursday with last week's Australian PGA winner and former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy the favourite to take home the Stonehaven Cup.
The field also includes former Australian Open winner Peter Lonard, veteran Peter Senior, South African Tim Clark and US Amateur champion Danny Lee of New Zealand.
© 2008 AFP/sid
