LIV Golf star Dustin Johnson is poised to make a comeback to golf in the new year, following a bizarre bedroom injury with his wife Paulina Gretzky.
The 40-year-old suffered the back problem in May and candidly told journalists: "I just pulled a muscle in my lower back."
When questioned if this was due to swinging a club or lifting one of his two children with Gretzky, he responded: "Lifting up a kid, just ... a bigger kid."
Johnson has a past record of back injuries, having withdrawn from The Masters in 2012 after straining his back. He again withdrew from the same tournament five years later after falling down the stairs at a rented property in Augusta.
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Significantly, Johnson was among the first major players to abandon the PGA Tour in favour of LIV Golf, the controversial Saudi-backed start-up league. He has previously stated on the hugely popular Netflix series "Full Swing" that one of the reasons for joining LIV was to earn more money while playing less golf.
He explained on the show that it's "pretty simple," adding: "Someone offers anyone a job, doing the same thing they're already doing but less time at the office and they're gonna pay them more. Pretty sure you're gonna take it. And something's wrong with you if you didn't."
Johnson is setting himself apart from fellow LIV Golf stars, such as dynamo Bryson DeChambeau, who are maximising the off-season by hitting up a plethora of Asian Tour events with DeChambeau set to make a splash in an iconic tournament in India, potentially clashing clubs with his own LIV team, the Crushers.
With Johnson steering clear of both the DP World Tour and the Asian Tour, predictions signal that he may not grace the green again until LIV Golf swings back into action come 2025. The freshly minted LIV schedule tees off February 6-8 in Riyadh, then proceeds to Adelaide (February 14-16), Hong Kong (March 7-9), and Singapore (March 14-16).
LIV Golf, which teed off its inaugural season in 2022, already boasts an impressive 14-event calendar filled with captivating narratives.
For instance, Johnson has pocketed an eye-watering cash prize, banking close to $35million (£26.9m) in the first season alone.
Meanwhile, the celebrated Brooks Koepka leads the LIV pack with a grand tally of five tournament victories, and DeChambeau stunned golf fans globally when he fired off an astounding 58 at Greenbrier in 2023, heralding it as "the greatest moment in my golf career."
