Ill Immelman withdraws

MASTERS champion Trevor Immelman has been forced to withdraw from the Players Championship at Sawgrass because of illness.

According to his manager, the South African woke up yesterday morning suffering from an upset stomach and vomiting before returning to his American home in Orlando to recover.

"Trevor is certainly disappointed with the timing of this illness as the Players Championship is a tournament he and all the players look forward to each year," his manager Jon Wagner said in a statement.

"His main focus now, though, is to use this time that he had previously scheduled off to get well and to prepare himself for the next event."

Immelman – who became the first South African to win the Masters since Gary Player in 1978 but has struggled for form in recent months and missed the cut in his last two PGA Tour starts – has been replaced in the 144-man field by 23-year-old American Dustin Johnson.