Dustin Johnson Withdraws From 2017 Masters After Freak Accident, New Betting Favorite Emerges

Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from the 2017 Masters, unable to compete in the PGA’s first major tournament of the year after falling down the stairs of his rental home in Augusta, Georgia. Without the world’s No.1 golfer in the field, there's a new favorite to win the coveted green jacket this weekend.

Justin Rose has replaced Johnson as the golfer with the best odds to win the championship. Johnson entered the week with five top-10 finishes and atop the PGA Tour Money List, but he was in too much pain to compete.

“It sucks. I want to play,” Johnson told reporters, withdrawing just before his 2:03 p.m. EDT tee time. “I’m playing probably the best golf of my career and this is one of my favorite tournaments. To have a freak accident happen yesterday afternoon, it sucks. It really does.

“I want to play. The issue is I just can’t swing.”

Johnson said he slipped and fell down the stairs Wednesday, landing on his elbow and lower back. He treated it both last night and this morning, but he told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi that when he began hitting balls early in the afternoon, he could only give “70 percent” effort on his swing.

Rose wasn’t among the favorites to start the tournament, ranking No.14 in the world, but that changed with a stellar first round. Through 13 holes, Rose was tied atop the leaderboard at two-under par.

Click here to see the complete live Masters leaderboard, and Bovada.lv has the live betting odds here.

Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are also among the betting favorites, now that Johnson is out. McIlroy is the world’s second-ranked golfer, and he’s finished in the top 10 at Augusta in each of the last three years. Fowler, No.8 in the world, is one of the few golfers that was under par for much of the day.

Jordan Spieth was made the favorite when word of Johnson's injury initially spread. That, however, changed after he struggled in the first round.

Spieth infamously had one of the biggest meltdowns in Masters history a year ago. He led by as many as five shots in last year’s tournament, but an awful final round, including a quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole, left him with a second-place finish.

Despite his collapse, Spieth has unquestionably been the best golfer at the Masters over the last three years. He tied for second in 2014 before winning his first green jacket in 2015. Spieth also went on to win the 2015 U.S. Open, posting top-four finishes in every major tournament that year.