LIV star to return after ‘depressing’ three-month injury

Bryson DeChambeau will welcome back a familiar face at LIV Golf Greenbrier this week.

Since June, former DP World Tour pro John Catlin has stepped up with four consecutive LIV appearances for the Crushers GC.

He joined Paul Casey and Anirban Lahiri in Houston, Nashville, Andalucia and England.

But the man Catlin replaced is back and expects to have some competitive ‘rust’ after being on the sidelines for three months.

Charles Howell III, a three-time PGA Tour winner, last competed at LIV Golf Singapore in May before suffering a a stress fracture in his lower left tibia.

“It’s great to be back,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve never really had an injury before, especially out for 12 weeks.

“I never thought it would be to that extent and take the amount of time that it did, but yeah, all is well that ends well, so here now.”

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Initially, the 45-year-old thought he was suffering from shin splints, but found out on May 16 that it was worse than that.

“I started feeling some pain in my lower left leg in Singapore. I came home and rested it for a little bit. Tried to hit balls, couldn’t. Rested some more. Tried to hit balls and couldn’t.

“That’s when I called Dr. Ara, who is our team doctor through LIV and started ordering MRIs and blood tests and whatnot. Found that it was a stress fracture in the lower left tibia.”

From that moment on, Howell has spent 12 weeks working on rehab and therapy, while admitting it seemed unlikely he’d be able to return as soon.

And he says not having the chance to tee it up has been the most ‘depressing’ part.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and frustration,” he said. “It’s both and I was also missing tournaments. Like I really wanted to play in Houston. I wanted to play in Nashville. I love the two in Europe.

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“I think missing the tournaments made it the most, like, I would say kind of depressing part of it. It’s like, oh my gosh, I want to be out there playing.

“I had a nice start to the year and was excited about that. And then obviously just missed the events, and I wasn’t able to practice, either.”

Meanwhile, Howell missed plenty off the golf course, too. There was the small matter of his captain winning the US Open at Pinehurst No.2 in June.

Alongside LIV events, it rolled on his TV, though, and having spent so much time away, Howell couldn’t hide his delight to be back.

He started hitting balls ‘five or six days ago’ and that’s left with a realistic mindset heading back into competitive action.

“Listen, I have some competitive rust,” he explained. “But I’m still able to hit some balls and my swing feels fine and stuff.”

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.