Injured Park pulls out of British Open

South Korean Park Inbee announced on Friday that she won't defend her Women's British Open title next week because of a nagging left thumb injury.

"With extreme disappointment, I must announce that I will be withdrawing from this year's Ricoh Women's British Open at Woburn," she said in a statement released by the LPGA.

"This has been an incredibly hard decision for me to make and the reason I've left it to the very last minute. Winning the British Open last year at Turnberry meant so much to me in more ways than you could imagine."

Park, 27, has been dogged by the injury all season. She hasn't played on the LPGA Tour since she missed the cut at the Women's PGA Championship early last month.

She said she is now concentrating on getting healthy to represent South Korea at the Olympic Games in Rio next month. - AFP.