Paddle board accident, sprained MCL sidelines Lucas Glover for 2nd straight week

Former Clemson golfer Lucas Glover is leaving Hawaii without hitting a single shot in competition.

Glover limped from the practice range back to his hotel room Wednesday after withdrawing from the Sony Open with a sprained right knee that still is not strong enough for him to play golf.

"It's getting better," Glover said. "But I'm not going to risk making it worse."

The former U.S. Open champion sprained the medial collateral ligament in his knee on Dec. 31 during a freak paddle boarding accident upon arriving on Maui for the PGA Tour's season-opening Tournament of Champions.

His foot caught the side of the board as he fell into the water, sending his body one direction and his knee the other.

Glover withdrew from the Tournament of Champions, but thought he might be able to play the Sony Open because Waialae Country Club is relatively flat and easier to walk.

He hit three wedges and a 9-iron on the range before his pro-am before deciding to withdraw.

"It was a long shot, but I was here and I wanted to try if I could," he said.

Glover doesn't believe the injury is more than a mild sprain, "it's just taking a little longer to heal." He planned to fly home to Sea Island on the Georgia coast and see another doctor to make sure it's nothing worse, and he hopes to be in San Diego in two weeks for the Northern Trust Open at Torrey Pines.

The timing for an injury is tough for Glover. A winner last year at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, he is No. 71 in the world ranking and had hoped to play a full West Coast schedule to get into the Match Play Championship (for the top 64 in the world) at the end of February, and perhaps another World Golf Championship event at Doral in early March.

While Glover will sit out this week, former Tiger Jonathan Byrd is looking to continue his high-flying start to the 2012 season.

Byrd made a strong run at successfully defending his 2011 Tournament of Champions title last week when he placed third with a 19-under par total – four shots behind winner Steve Stricker. Byrd opened play last with a 67 that included a string of six consecutive birdies.

Also in the Sony Open field will be former Clemson players Kyle Stanley and Tommy Biershenk.

Stanley is coming off an outstanding rookie season in which he made the cut in 22 of 28 tournament, finished in the top 10 four times and in the top 25 on nine occasions, and earned $1,523,657.

Biershenk is making his debut as a PGA Tour regular after earning his spot via Q School in December. He nearly earned his card a year earlier, and the followed up with a successful season on the 2011 Nationwide Tour.

All three former Tigers will tee off in the afternoon wave at Waialae on Thursday. Stanley will open his round at 5 p.m. ET (noon local time), while Byrd tees off at 5:20 and Biershenk at 6:20.