Rib injury knocks Snedeker out of Match Play

• By Rex Hoggard
• Feb 12, 2013 3:25 PM ET

World No. 4 Brandt Snedeker will miss next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to nurse sore ribs in his lower left side, sources confirmed on Tuesday.

Snedeker, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by two strokes on Sunday to cap a torrid start to his season that includes a pair of runner-up finishes (Farmers Insurance Open and Waste Management Phoenix Open) and a tie for the third at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, is expected to miss three weeks because of the injury.

“I don't know if it's just weakness in that area, the way he sits on a plane, I just don't know. I don't think it has anything to do with his golf swing," said Todd Anderson, Snedeker's swing coach.

"Right now it's a big unknown, he just wants to be sharp and ready for Augusta."

Snedeker’s Sea Island (Ga.)-based trainer Randy Myers told GolfChannel.com that he strained the rib during a practice round at the Humana Challenge and re-aggravated the injury on Thursday at Pebble Beach. Snedeker had an X-ray on Monday in California and is awaiting the results of that test. He plans to return to Nashville, Tenn., later this week to meet with his doctor, Dr. Burton Elrod.

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“He felt like he was playing well enough after the Humana he wanted to keep playing,” Myers said. “His biggest concern is he worked so hard to become a No. 1 seed (for the Match Play) and he’s played well there, (but) this is just preventative.”

The reigning FedEx Cup champion could return in time for the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March.

Snedeker sustained a cracked rib at last year’s RBC Heritage and missed the better part of the next three months recovering.

“Last year, because he tried to fight through it, he missed all the way through the U.S. Open,” Myers said. “He’s comfortable with the time table and that he didn’t aggravate anything any worse.”

Snedeker has dealt with a litany of injuries throughout his career, including consecutive off-season hip surgeries in 2010 and 2011.