JACKSON, Miss. — Champions Tour golfer Ken Green’s lower right leg was amputated Monday following a recreational vehicle accident last week in which his brother and girlfriend died.
He was under sedation and in good condition after the three-hour operation at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Green’s agent and close friend Kevin Richardson said.
“He’s safe and he tolerated it well,” Richardson said. He added Green hopes to play competitive golf again.
Richardson said Green will spend at least a week in the hospital before returning home to Indiantown, Fla. He will go through rehabilitation and be fitted for a prosthetic limb. The 50-year-old golfer will need surgery on a suborbital bone in his face. He also has about a 6-inch cut on the left side of his head.
His brother, William Green, and girlfriend Jean Marie Hodgin died in the June 8 accident in east Mississippi.
U.S. Open weather woes
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Weather is quickly becoming a major concern at the U.S. Open.
Tiger Woods was delayed for about half an hour on the first tee Monday morning because of rain, then eventually got nine holes in, some of which actually took place in sunshine.
But more rain pelted Beth-page Black during the afternoon, leaving plenty of muddy puddles on walkways and further softening greens that could — assuming anyone hits them — be downright receptive this week.
Forecasters are calling for as much as a 50 percent chance of rain Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The two remaining practice days, according to the National Weather Service, likely will be mostly dry, but temperatures will be hard-pressed to crack the 70-degree plateau.
Katayama withdraws
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Shingo Katayama has withdrawn from the U.S. Open because of an injury to his upper back.
Katayama is No. 39 in the world ranking, and finished fourth at the Masters in April, two shots out of a playoff. He is the fourth player to withdraw from the U.S. Open.
He was replaced in the field by David Erdy of Indiana.
Erdy, 19, is the 16th amateur in the field, the most amateurs in more than a decade.
Pinehurst doubleheader
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The USGA said the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open will be held over consecutive weeks in 2014 at North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2, the first time in golf women have a chance to share the stage with the men.
