The opening round of the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship has successfully concluded. David Skinns is leading with a 12-under, running three strokes ahead of Michael Thorbjornsen. However, there is one thing that has been striking everybody in the golf world. To begin with, the top players like Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy are not a part of the field.

The event held at the Country Club of Jackson, which is taking place after the Presidents Cup, has only one player from the top 50 OWGR list, Nick Dunlap. However, despite that, a visibly battered group has made their way into the $7.6 million event field, leaving fans devastated.

On the other hand, the DP World Tour, ongoing parallely, has a lot of the big names in the field from both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. And well, now looks like the players who are a part of the field are constantly withdrawing! Ahead of the first round, was Anders Albertson, who withdrew first from the event. Martin Trainer replaced him. A few hours later, J. J. Spaun withdrew after carding a 3-over in his first round. He would have been tied for the 127th position otherwise.

And now, Parker Coody, who ranks 271st on the OWGR list, withdrew after the opening round. He completed only the front nine, scoring a 2-under 34, and then cited a wrist injury. The official X account of the PGA Tour shared the update on their wall a few hours ago. They wrote, “Parker Coody (wrist) is a WD during the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.”

Even the defending champ is absent!

Ahead of the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship, Luke List, the defending champion, shared a critical injury update. At the post-round presser on Wednesday, he confessed to suffering a herniated disc in his neck in the summer. However, he still is trying to play through it, after focusing on rehab in the last three to six weeks. There have been no signs of improvement, nonetheless. He stated that it has still been bothering him.

“It’s nothing that’s like a blown-out disc or anything, but it has affected my strength in the left side of my body, and it’s just been a little bit of an issue the last year. Most of us out here have some sort of injury or some sort of nagging thing that we’re dealing with,” List said. It is probably the injury that has been dragging him down, as the 2X PGA Tour winner is currently sharing the T73 position with 25 other players, having a score of 2-under. Do you think he will be able to climb up the list after the Friday round? Let us know in the comments section below!