The weather gods are not the only ones the PGA Tour has to work on appeasing. As the clock ticks closer to The Open Championship, a new hurdle has riddled Jay Monahan’s Tour. It’s the injury plague. And the timing couldn’t have been worse. Back-to-back injuries have surfaced only a week apart from the season’s last major.

Not even a week apart from Royal Troon, the Genesis Scottish Open has seen the wrath of injuries on two of its gems. First, Sebastian Söderberg withdrew before the event’s onset, citing a back injury as the cause. He was replaced by Alejandro Del Rey. Then, Christiaan Bezuidenhout withdrew due to the wrath of an injury during the second round of the $9 million event.

It’s still unclear whether the withdrawal of these players will impede their Open Championship plans or not. Surely, the proximity between the two events does not help their case. If we were to assume that their condition leads to a withdrawal next week, Söderberg would be at a much bigger disadvantage. This is because this would be his debut at the Open, and if he withdraws, his legacy plans would suffer, unlike Bezuidenhout.

While the South African remains far from a win, at least this will not be his debut. He has played in The Open on four occasions before. While he missed the cut on his first appearance, he has managed to rise above the cut line in the rest. But a win remains far-fetched, as the 30-year-old’s best finish remains T49. With the recent back injury, Bezuidenhout’s dream to lay his hands on the Claret Jug remains unfulfilled.

However, not all injuries are visible to the naked eye. After this season’s U.S. Open, Rory McIlroy would agree.

Rory McIlroy’s mental health battle after missing victory by an inch

Mental health is key to success in the game of golf. But the unsteadiness of the game makes it very hard for pros to remain at the top of their mental bliss. This is something that the Northern Irishman also experienced when he missed his shot to win a major after a decade once again. But what made his fresh U.S. Open wound worse was that this lost shot was unbelievably close. Just one stroke and McIlroy could’ve had his hands on the trophy this time around. But destiny decided otherwise.

“It was a great day until it wasn’t,” was how McIlroy described his final day at Pinehurst No. 2. The days since the U.S. Open have presented this pro with a bundle of challenges, the foremost of which remain his mental health struggles. Thankfully, his support system was strong and helped him through it. Addressing this, McIlroy said, “Sometimes you take that for granted and feel like you don’t need that all the time.”

Truly, golf can be brutal at times. But it’s skilled, and few are the ones who never succumb to the challenges it presents. Rory McIlroy, for one, will be at Royal Troon once again in hopes of achieving his first major win in a decade, one last time.

As for the injury plague, only time will tell. What do you think? Will it lead to further withdrawals?