Gullane - Former champion Louis Oosthuizen was forced to withdraw from this year's British Open Championship on Thursday after playing his tee shot at the par five, ninth hole.
The South African shook hands with playing partners Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell before heading straight to the close-by rented house where he has been residing this week to have treatment on his injured neck.
"I'm bitterly disappointed to have to pull out of The Open and it looks likely now I am going to have to take some time off and give my neck the rest I've been told they need," he said
"I thought I would be okay today as I warmed up pretty well on the range hitting balls.
"But then as the round progressed the pain in my neck translated into my hips and just found increasingly uncomfortable to walk.
"The Open means so much to me and to have to withdraw in this manner is extremely disappointing on top of also having to pull out of Merion."
The 2010 Open champion at St Andrews was four over when he called it quits.
It was the second straight major that Oosthuizen has failed to finish having withdrawn before the second round of the US Open at Merion Golf Club last month with a strained hip flexor.