By D.A. Weibring knew what he wanted to do during Thursday’s opening round at The Players Championship. It’s just that his body wouldn’t let him.
“Sometimes, the sick golfer can have a great round,” Weibring said Thursday afternoon hours after pulling out of The Players Championship with a back injury. “You have no expectations and you can just go play. But the injured golfer usually doesn’t do too well. Your brain is telling you, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t hurt yourself.’”
The Quincy native made it through six holes at TPC Sawgrass before being forced to withdraw from one of the PGA Tour’s most prestigious events.
Diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back in February, Weibring tried to fight through the pain to take full advantage of the special exemption afforded him by capturing last fall’s Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, his first major championship on the Champions Tour.
After arriving in Ponte Verde Beach, Fla., earlier this week, Weibring saw some signs that he might struggle.
“I played a practice round with Troy Matteson, who played with (Weibring’s son) Matt at Georgia Tech,” Weibring said. “He said it looked like I was having a hard time getting the club back and getting it through the ball.
“I kept hoping it would get better, but it just hasn’t.”
Dr. Troy Van Biezen, one of the PGA Tour’s top doctors, watched Weibring warm up on Thursday and noticed that Weibring was quick with his change of direction at the top of his swing. It was Van Biezen who worked on Weibring’s back last week in an effort to get him ready for the tournament.
Weibring made a triple-bogey seven on his first hole — the 10th — on Thursday. His tee shot hit off a cart path and landed in a bush. After a drop, his next shot hit a tree.
“I made a hell of a 7,” he said. “That was a signal that it was going to be a real good day.”
Weibring followed with five straight 5s — a double bogey, a par and three bogeys. He was 8-over through six holes when he told playing partners Bo Van Pelt and Tim Petrovic that he was bowing out before they reached the 16th tee box.
“It’s embarrassing when you play poorly,” Weibring said. “But what hurts your pride is when you can’t play a shot you know you’re capable of playing. I was playing with two terrific guys. I think they felt bad for me, and I didn’t want to get in their way.”
Weibring cited a back injury as his official reason for withdrawing. He said he felt stiff after the round was over.
“The instinct was not to come here because I hadn’t been playing well,” Weibring said. “But I felt it was important to come because (the Champions Tour) has been given an exemption to compete here.
“It just came at the wrong time for me. I need to go home, take some time off and get to feeling better.”
Weibring has already withdrawn from next week’s Champions Tour event in Birmingham, Ala. He said there was a chance he might miss the Senior PGA Championship — the first major of the year on the Champions Tour — the following week. He may also miss the Des Moines, Iowa, tour stop later next month. One of Weibring’s five Champions Tour wins came in Des Moines.