World No. 1 Dustin Johnson withdrew from this week’s Valero Texas Open on Monday, opting instead to stay home and prep for next week’s Masters Tournament. Johnson will be replaced in the field by Ryan Brehm.
Brehm has two Korn Ferry Tour wins in his career and is coming off a T-11 at the Puerto Rico Open last month and a T-34 last weekend at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship.
Dustin Johnson was bounced from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in the round-robin portion of the event last week, and subsequently committed to play at TPC San Antonio.
Ultimately, he had a change of heart.
Statement from Dustin Johnson pic.twitter.com/Bi8Ljh7ERJ
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 29, 2021
“After much careful thought over the weekend, I have decided to withdraw from the Valero Texas Open,” Johnson said in a statement.
“I now plan to spend the week at home in preparation for next week’s Masters. I sincerely apologize to the sponsors at Valero and all my friends in San Antonio, as I realize this is disappointing news. Nonetheless, I have no doubt it will be another great week for the Valero Texas Open.”
Johnson, who hasn’t won since the Saudi International in February on the European Tour, has only one top-10 on the PGA Tour this year in five starts.
Still, he enters the Masters week as the betting favorite at 8/1.
Article originally appeared on: Golfweek.usatoday.com