Injured In-bee won’t defend title at British Open

LOS ANGELES: South Korean Park In-bee announced that she won’t defend her British Open title next week because of a nagging left thumb injury.

“With extreme disappointment I must announce that I will be withdrawing from this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open at Woburn,” she said in a statement released by the LPGA on Friday.

“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.”

In-bee, 27, has been dogged by the injury all season. She hasn’t played on the LPGA Tour since she missed the cut at the Women’ s P GA Championship, where she officially qualified for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame.

In-bee completed the Career Grand Slam with her victory at Trump Turnberry last year and said she is now concentrating on getting healthy to represent South Korea at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month.

“It just needs a little bit more time,” she said. “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.”