The Ryder Cup legend and LIV golfer revealed on Thursday that he recently suffered a torn meniscus. But how he did it made the injury even more unfortunate.

“I tore my meniscus Thursday of Virginia just hopping up two steps,” the 50-year-old Poulter said.

Hey, it sucks getting old.

Ian Poulter says he will require knee surgery at the end of the season after tearing his meniscus at LIV Virginia, "I tore my meniscus Thursday of Virginia just hopping up two steps." pic.twitter.com/OJF45kF6BA

— Chris McKee (@mrmckee) May 28, 2026

But maybe Poulter’s injury is actually helping the Golfers-Are-Athletes movement because not only did he play through the pain—he plans to have surgery in September after the LIV season ends—he shot 10 under that week and finished T-18. And he opened with a 66 in the LIV Korea event on Thursday.

“I just have to be reminding to myself that I can’t go and play paddle tennis or do anything stupid or hop up steps like I did a couple of weeks ago,” Poulter said. “Walking in straight lines and being super sensible is not something I’m used to doing.”

Be careful out there, Ian.

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Iranian-born golf instructor Mohammad Mohseni Goudarzi learned that the hard way last year when he was struck in the face by the club of Houston-based oil executive Youssef Abbad El Andaloussi during a lesson, leaving him with multiple facial fractures, infections and permanent disfigurement according to a report by The Independent.

Or at least this is what is alleged by Goudrazi—who lives in Bolivia and teaches in multiple countries, in a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages. Goudrazi claims he agreed to instruct El Andaloussi on basic golf techniques as “a family favour,” and that’s when the injury occurred.

“During the instruction [El Andaloussi] negligently swung a golf club without checking his surroundings or confirming [Goudarzi’s] position,” Goudarzi’s lawsuit alleges. “[El Andaloussi’s] careless act resulted in the club striking [Goudarzi’s] face, causing severe trauma and multiple facial bone fractures.”

Allegedly, employees at BlackHorse Country Club—an upscale public-private course in suburban Houston—attempted to call an ambulance for Goudrazi, but El Andaloussi declined, offering to take Goudrazi to the emergency room himself. After leaving Goudrazi at the ER, however, El Andaloussi is said to have cut off communication with Goudrazi, directing all communication to his wife Azi Mohseni due to “work obligations.” Mohseni apologised for her husband’s behaviour, and referred Goudrazi to a local doctor who introduced himself a facial injury specialist. According to the lawsuit, the doctor told Goudrazi nothing was broken and instructed him to rest.

For the next several days, Goudrazi’s condition continued to worsen. Without American health insurance, he called a doctor back in Bolivia who instructed him to get an MRI. When Goudrazi returned to the previous doctor after the MRI revealed multiple facial fractures, the doctor allegedly “informed [Goudarzi] that he was not, in fact, a specialist in facial trauma and advised him to seek further treatment elsewhere.”

By this point, 8-10 days had passed since the initial incident, and Goudrazi’s injuries had developed infections that reportedly “required emergency reconstructive surgery” and “ongoing rehabilitative care.” All the while, Goudrazi claims El Andaloussi hasn’t spoken to him since he dropped him off at the ER. The lawsuit also claims neither El Andaloussi or his wife Mohseni offered to compensate Goudrazi for “substantial physical, emotional, and financial damages.”

Goudrazi claims the errant swing led to “diminished quality of life, loss of earnings, and substantial past and future medical expenses.” He is now seeking a jury trial and damages upwards of $1 million following the ordeal.

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When Will Zalatoris putted out for a second-round 76 at the PGA Championship in missing the cut last week, he stiffly reached down to pick his ball out of the hole. He smiled when shaking hands with his competitors, but he clearly was not feeling well. There was a reason for that.

On Monday, Zalatoris, 28, revealed on social media that he underwent back surgery near his home in Dallas on Friday to repair discs he re-herniated after surgery for them in 2022. The one-time PGA Tour winner said in the post that he began feeling discomfort in the spring and it got progressively worse. He had an MRI after the PGA that revealed the herniated discs.

“I’m happy to say I woke up feeling good and excited about my long-term health,” Zalatoris posted. “Time to focus on my recovery and get back after it.” He concluded with, “Looking forward to seeing everyone in the autumn.”

Zalatoris made 11 starts this season and missed only two cuts. But he didn’t contend in tournaments and his best finish was T-12 at The American Express in January.

The back injuries have stunted what looked to be a promising early career. Zalatoris was the tour’s rookie of the year in 2020-21 when he finished solo second in the Masters and posted eight top-10s. The following season, he was runner-up in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, and broke through with his first win in the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoff opener, the FedEx St. Jude Classic. But Zalatoris had to withdraw midway through the BMW Championship the next week with a back injury. Then, after making seven starts in 2023, he withdrew ahead of the Masters, had back surgery days later and missed the rest of the ’23 season.

Zalatoris had a productive 2024 season of 22 starts that included tying for second in the Genesis Invitational and later finishing T-9 in the Masters.

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Sahith Theegala has withdrawn from the PGA Championship due to injury.

Theegala was announced as a late scratch Wednesday afternoon at Quail Hollow. According to the PGA of America, Theegala cited a neck issue as the reason for the WD.

Alex Smalley will replace Theegala in the field.

Pairings for the first and second rounds at Quail Hollow

The news is not necessarily a surprise. Theegala had to drop out of last week’s Truist Championship on Sunday. The 27-year-old had opened with a 69 and 71 at Philly Cricket Club before struggling on Saturday with an eight-over 78 on Saturday, followed by an ensuing WD.

It’s the latest tough beat for Theegala. After making the Presidents Cup team last season, Theegala has struggled in 2025, ranking 148th in strokes gained and failing to record a top 10 in 14 starts. Theegala finished T-12 in last year’s PGA Championship.

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On Tuesday afternoon, Tiger Woods posted on his social media accounts that he ruptured the Achilles tendon in his left leg while training, and earlier that morning underwent “minimally invasive” surgery to repair the tendon.

“As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles, which was deemed to be ruptured,” Woods wrote. “This morning, Dr. Charlton Stucken of Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida performed a minimally-invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon. “The surgery went smoothly, and we expect a full recovery,” added Dr. Stucken. I am back home now and plan to focus on my recovery and rehab, thank you for all the support.”

It’s not immediately clear how he ruptured the tendon beyond “training and practice,” or how long this will keep him out. This is the latest of many injuries for Tiger Woods, who had not planned to play at this week’s Players Championship. He pulled out of the Genesis Invitational in the wake of his mother’s death, saying he was not in the right place mentally to compete.

The question now, however, is whether there is any chance that Woods will be able to play in next month’s Masters. It was presumed that Tiger was doing everything he could to prepare for that event, but typical recovery times for this surgery make it highly unlikely that he’ll be anywhere near ready to play the year’s first major.

The last time Tiger played competitively on the PGA Tour was at Royal Troon for last year’s Open Championship. Since then, he has competed at the PNC Championship with his son Charlie—where he walked—and for his Jupiter Links team in several TGL matches.

Despite speculation that he might play in this week’s Players Championship, he gave a pretty definitive indication last Tuesday that he wouldn’t register by the Friday deadline.

“This is the third time I’ve touched a club since my mum passed,” Woods said following his last TGL match, “so I haven’t really gotten into it. My heart’s not really into practicing right now…once I start probably feeling a bit better and getting into it, I’ll start looking at the schedule.”

Most sources indicate that recovery from even minor Achilles tendion repair surgery is a matter of months, not weeks, which—if his recovery follows a typical timeline—would reasonably be expected to keep him out of the remaining summer majors.

Dr. Alex Shafiro, an orthopedic specialist who treats sports medicine injuries at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, said that Woods’ recovery will entail “immediate muscle activation with blood flow restriction device.” He said that Woods will likely be booted for three to six weeks depending on how aggressive the surgeon and Tiger decide to be, and that it will be months before he can expect to play.

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Schauffele is coming off a breakthrough season in 2024, earning his first major victory at the PGA Championship then delivering an encore performance two months later at the Open to capture the claret jug. If it wasn’t for Scottie Scheffler’s eight-win campaign, Schauffele would likely have earned Player of the Year honours, with 15 top 10s in 22 starts.

The World No. 2 competed in the season-opening event in Maui this January before appearing in TGL’s debut on ESPN. However, the former gold medalist pulled out of the American Express slated for mid-January and has since missed AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am along with both tour stops in his childhood hometown of San Diego in the Farmers Insurance Open and this week’s relocated Genesis Invitational. Schauffele has been trying to nurse an injury to his rib cage, which has been diagnosed as an acute intercostal strain/micro tear.

“I need a little more TLC, especially at 31 versus 25 and make sure everything is oiled correctly,” Schauffele told Golfweek. “I thought I’d be fine and kept going and played through it at Sentry and at the first TGL match. I was pretty much tapped. I knew it was getting significantly worse and needed time off.”

Schauffele has mostly avoided health issues in his nine years on tour. Schauffele is feeling better, and had originally intended to make a return at the WM Phoenix Open or the Genesis. Alas, he cited Torrey Pines’ healthy rough as one of the reasons he’s had to pass on both SoCal events, along with advice from others about not returning to the game too soon and risk re-injury. For now, Schauffele is targeting the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill for his return, followed by the Players Championship.

“I want to get as many reps under the belt before the Masters,” Schauffele said. “It would be nice to get the competitive blood flowing a few times before going into a really big event.”

Schauffele, 31, has been a perennial contender at Augusta National, with four top 10s in his last six starts, highlighted by a runner-up finish in 2019 and T-3 in 2021.

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Viktor Hovland suffered what appeared to be a freak injury to his foot during the holidays.

Hovland posted an x-ray to his Instagram over the weekend that looked to be a broken pinky toe. “Bed frame 1 – 0 me,” Hovland wrote under the photo.

 

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A post shared by Viktor Hovland (@viktor_hovland)

The Ryder Cup star is supposed to play in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Sentry event in Maui this week, and as of writing is still listed in the field. According to Eurosport, Hovland is hoping that painkillers and tape will be enough to get him through the competition, although Kapalua’s Plantation course is one of the harder walks on the tour thanks to its mountainous topography.

Hovland, 27, captured the FedEx Cup in 2023, but is coming off a somewhat rocky campaign with just two top-10 finishes in 16 starts following a series of swing changes. The Norwegian is still ranked inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking and earned an invite to Maui thanks to finishing 12th in the FedEx Cup, a standing helped by a third-place finish at the PGA Championship and T-2 at the playoff-opening event in Memphis.

Hovland’s injury comes on the heels of Scottie Scheffler’s hand injury suffered on Christmas, which will sideline the three-time Player of the Year for at least a month.

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READ MORE: This Jon Rahm swing key will get you hitting it absolutely pure

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