J.B. Holmes of the U.S. watches his tee shot on the fifth hole during the quarterfinal round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships golf tournament in Marana, Arizona.
J.B. Holmes of the U.S. watches his tee shot on the fifth hole during the quarterfinal round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships golf tournament in Marana, Arizona February 26, 2011 Reuters

J.B. Holmes has withdrawn from this week's Barclays Classic in Edison, New Jersey and will be sidelined for three months while recovering from brain surgery, the PGA Tour said on Monday.

The long-hitting Holmes, a double winner on the U.S. circuit, had been experiencing vertigo-like symptoms since the Players Championship in May.

He has since been diagnosed with Chiari malformations, structural defects in the part of the brain which controls balance, and will undergo surgery at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital on September 1.

It's just such a relief to know that there's a name for what I've been going through these past few months and that I have a good chance of getting back to golf and to my regular life, Holmes said in a statement released by the PGA Tour.

This is a relatively low-risk surgery and only takes about an hour and a half. Best of all, there's a very high success rate in fixing the condition.

Holmes recorded four top-10s in his first 10 PGA Tour starts this season before his form sharply declined after the Players Championship.

In his last three appearances, the 29-year-old has missed two cuts and withdrew after the opening round of the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, citing illness.

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