Why did Ernie Els withdraw from The Open Championship 2024? Reason explored

Ernie Els had to withdraw from The Open Championship 2024 due to health problems. The golfer won the Open Championship twice in his career but couldn't compete for the four days at this edition due to a back injury.

He shot 82 in the opening round and struggled through Thursday until finally calling it off.

In round one of The Open Championship, Els carded no birdies and bogeyed holes 3, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. He also double-bogeyed hole 4.

Besides Ernie Els, Romain Langasque also had an early exit from The Open Championship and the reason he gave was a back injury as well. The player quit the Major after a devastating 8th-hole experience. The French golfer birdied only hole two out of the eight holes he played at The Open Championship and bogeyed four holes.

The worst experience he had was on hole 8 when the winds imbalanced his shot, leaving the golfer frustrated. Finally, the golfer withdrew and said that he was done with the event.

Another golfer named Sebastian Soderberg also removed his name from The Open Championship list before round one teed off.

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The round 2 tee times and pairings for the Open Championship

Friday's round of the Open Championship has Phil Mickelson paired with Dustin Johnson and Joost Luiten at 3:47 a.m. ET. Then, Ludvig Åberg, Bryson DeChambeau and Tom Kim are paired together at 9:48 a.m. ET.

Here's the detailed chart of the tee times and pairings:

(All times ET)

1:35 a.m. -- Ewen Ferguson, Marcel Siem

1:46 a.m. -- CT Pan, Romain Langasque, Yuto Katsuragawa

1;57 a.m. -- Rikuya Hoshino, Angel Hidalgo, Richard Mansell

2:08 a.m. -- Corey Conners, Ryan Fox, Jorge Campillo

2:19 a.m. -- Ernie Els, Gary Woodland, Altin van der Merwe (a)

2:30 a.m. -- Henrik Stenson, Rasmus Hojgaard, Jacob Skov Olesen (a)

2:41 a.m. -- Louis Oosthuizen, Billy Horschel, Victor Perez

2:52 a.m. -- Sepp Straka, Brendon Todd, Jordan Smith

3:03 a.m. -- Denny McCarthy, Taylor Moore, Adrian Meronk

3:14 a.m. -- Jason Day, Byeong Hun An, Rickie Fowler

3:25 a.m. -- Alex Cejka, Eric Cole, Kurt Kitayama

3:36 a.m. -- Darren Clarke, JT Poston, Dean Burmester

3:47 a.m. -- Phil Mickelson, Joost Luiten, Dustin Johnson

4:03 a.m. -- Padraig Harrington, Davis Thompson, Matthew Jordan

4:14 a.m. -- Wyndham Clark, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka

4:25 a.m. -- Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay

4:36 a.m. -- Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim

4:47 a.m. -- Shane Lowry, Cameron Smith, Matt Fitzpatrick

4:58 a.m. -- Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young

5:09 a.m. -- Akshay Bhatia, Tom Hoge, Sami Valimaki

5:20 a.m. -- Emiliano Grillo, Ben Griffin, Mackenzie Hughes

5:31 a.m. -- Yannik Paul, Joe Dean, Andy Ogletree

5:42 a.m. -- Ryan van Velzen, Charlie Lindh, Luis Masaveu (a)

5:53 a.m. -- Kazuma Kobori, Jaime Montojo Fernandez (a), Liam Nolan (a)

6:04 a.m. -- Daniel Brown, Denwit David Boriboonsub, Matthew Dodd-Berry (a)

6:15 a.m. -- Jeunghun Wang, Aguri Iwasaki, Sam Horsfield

6:26 a.m. -- Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton, Jack McDonald

6:47 a.m. -- Tom McKibbin, Alex Noren, Calum Scott (a)

6:58 a.m. -- Jesper Svensson, Vincent Norrman, Michael Hendry

7:09 a.m. -- Younghan Song, Daniel Hillier, Ryosuke Kinoshita

7:20 a.m. -- Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune, Abraham Ancer

7:31 a.m. -- Nicolai Hojgaard, Adam Scott, Keita Nakajima

7:42 a.m. -- Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Jasper Stubbs (a)

7:53 a.m. -- Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, Matthew Southgate

8:04 a.m. -- Nick Taylor, Matt Wallace, Laurie Canter

8:15 a.m. -- Matteo Manassero, Shubhankar Sharma

8:26 a.m. -- Zach Johnson, Austin Eckroat, Thorbjorn Olesen

8:37 a.m. -- John Daly, Santiago de la Fuente (a), Aaron Rai

8:48 a.m. -- Stewart Cink, Chris Kirk, Dominic Clemons (a)

9:04 a.m. -- Stephan Jaeger, Adam Schenk, Joaquin Niemann

9:15 a.m. -- Adam Hadwin, Lucas Glover, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

9:26 a.m. -- Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Matthieu Pavon

9:37 a.m. -- Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre

9:48 a.m. -- Ludvig Åberg, Bryson DeChambeau, Tom Kim

9:59 a.m. -- Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland, Sahith Theegala

10:10 a.m. -- Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton

10:21 a.m. -- Keegan Bradley, Will Zalatoris, Gordon Sargent (a)

10:32 a.m. -- Harris English, Maverick McNealy, Alexander Bjork

10:43 a.m. -- Guido Migliozzi, Sean Crocker, Tommy Morrison (a)

10:54 a.m. -- David Puig, John Catlin, Guntaek Koh

11:05 a.m. -- Thriston Lawrence, Daniel Bradbury, Elvis Smylie

11:16 a.m. -- Nacho Elvira, Minkyu Kim, Darren Fichardt

11:27 a.m. – Mason Andersen, Masahiro Kawamura, Sam Hutsby