Reigning US PGA Tour rookie of the year Jordan Spieth will replace injured world No.9 Brandt Snedeker at next month's World Challenge golf event hosted by Tiger Woods.
Snedeker's decision to withdraw came two weeks after bruising his tibia and straining a knee ligament in China when he fell off a Segway vehicle. He immediately pulled out of the Australian PGA in Melbourne.
The incident took place at a corporate sponsor outing a day after the World Golf Championships HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
Spieth, 20, won the John Deere Classic in July just 13 days before his 20th birthday, becoming the first teenager to win a US PGA event since Ralph Guldahl at the 1931 Santa Monica Open. He had three runner-up efforts this year and earned a captain's pick in the triumphant US Presidents Cup team.
While Snedeker, 32, is ahead of schedule in rehabilitation treatments for the injury, he does not want to risk more damage, particularly with plans for a busy schedule when PGA events resume in early 2014.
Snedeker, who won last year's US PGA playoff title, will defend his Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title in early February and, this year, he was third or better in four of his first five starts.
An 18-man field, including defending champion Graeme McDowell and top-ranked Woods, will compete in the World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club from December 5-8.
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