RICOH Women's British Open defending champion Inbee Park has been forced to withdraw from the LPGA Tour's fourth major next week due to an ongoing thumb injury. Park released this statement early Friday morning.
“With extreme disappointment I must announce that I will be withdrawing from this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open at Woburn. This has been an incredibly hard decision for me to make and the reason I’ve left it to the very last minute. Winning the British Open last year at Turnberry meant so much to me in more ways than you could imagine. Since the PGA I’ve been resting and rehabilitating my left thumb in the hope that I would be right to defend my title next week but it just needs a little bit more time. Therefore, I will be unable to attend this year’s British Open and now must concentrate on getting healthy and ready to compete for my country at the Olympic Games in Rio.”