Past Open champ (back) withdraws from Birkdale field; another potential WD?

A past Open champion has withdrawn from this 154th edition.

Louis Oosthuizen announced Monday afternoon that he has pulled out of the field at Royal Birkdale because of a back injury. He also won’t play next week’s LIV Golf U.K. event in Rocester, England.

“Not the update I was hoping to share,” said Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open at St. Andrews. “… 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.”

Oosthuizen was replaced in the field by Aldrich Potgieter.

Matti Schmid and Andrew Wilson are now the first and second alternates, respectively, with Schmid paying close attention to the status of Sam Burns, whose wife, Caroline, has been due in mid-July with the couple’s second child.

Burns’ mother, Beth, had told The Athletic at last month’s U.S. Open that her son wouldn’t travel for the PGA Tour’s fortnight in the U.K.

“He won’t go to Europe,” Beth Burns said. “This is his last major. They’re going to go home and have a baby.”

Burns was still listed in the field when the first- and second-round tee times were released on Monday.