Golf:Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts, who registered his first European Tour win at the China Open in April, may have to pull out of this week's British Open after injuring his elbow in a fall from a scooter.
If the 28-year-old is forced to withdraw, former US Ryder Cup player Scott Verplank will be drafted into Thursday's opening round as first reserve.
"I rented a scooter last night and went into Sandwich but I went over the pavement and fell on my elbow," said a glum-looking Colsaerts as he watched his fellow competitors on the practice range at a windy Royal St George's today.
"The elbow doesn't feel the best right now but we are working on the swelling with the physio. The only hope is I have a late start time on Thursday (2.54pm) and that will give me a little more time to recover.
"I'm obviously a little low now but hopefully I'll be ready," added Colsaerts who is due to partner long-hitting American JB Holmes and South Korean Bae Sang-moon in the first two rounds of the third Major of the season.
The elbow injury meant Colsaerts was unable to practise as scheduled today.
"I'm not a risk-taker usually, I'm no dare-devil," he said. "I was just trying to get into a little safer place but it worked against me.
"There was no alcohol involved or anything - don't worry about that. But you have to do something to while away the time, you can't just sit in your room and do nothing.
"I'm usually fine on two wheels. I've ridden in heavy traffic in Thailand before so it shouldn't really have been an issue."
The injury has come at a rotten time for Colsaerts because he has been in sparkling form, finishing third at last week's Scottish Open and at the World Match Play Championship in Spain in May.
"This has certainly broken a bit of my momentum coming in to this tournament," he said. "I've been doing quite well lately.
"I've been getting manipulation from the physio, taking anti-inflammatories and there's nothing more to do but to just wait and see how quickly I recover."
Colsaerts, whose great-grandfather represented Belgium at basketball and water polo at the 1920 Olympics, said he would withdraw from the Open if he was not fully fit.
"I don't believe it's right to take the place of someone who is fitter than you," said the world number 71. "I won't be playing any tricks.
"If I play I'll play through to the end because I'm not going to quit after nine holes, that's for sure. It will be a big blow if I have to pull out but I guess I've still got plenty of Opens left ahead of me."
Colsaerts’ injury comes just 10 days after Thomas Levet was forced to withdraw from the Open after injuring himself when he jumped into lake.
Levet had just won the French Open in Paris and as part of the celebrations he jumped into a lake by the 18th green at Le Golf National. With his shin in plaster he was forced to withdraw from the Open.
