Aldrich Potgieter, the big-hitting South African who narrowly missed out on qualifying on Monday, will tee it up at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale after 2010 champions Louis Oosthuizen was forced to withdraw.
“Not the update I was hoping to share,” said Oosthuizen in a statement on Monday.
“Unfortunately, due to a back injury, I’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from both The Open Championship and LIV Golf’s JCB event.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to miss two events I always look forward to, but my priority now is to focus on my recovery and make sure I’m fully fit before returning to competition.
Potgieter will now tee off at 2:53pm on Thursday, alongside SA amateur Jack Buchanan and Swede Jesper Svensson.
There are six other South Africans in the field this week – Hennie du Plessis, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Michael Hollick, Shaun Norris and MJ Daffue.
Scottie Scheffele is defending his title, while Jordan Spieth won the Open last time it was played at Royal Birkdale in 2017. That was the last of his three majors.