Karlsson WDs from U.S. Open, Svoboda takes spot

text size

FARMINGDALE, New York (AP) -- Robert Karlsson of Sweden has withdrawn from the U.S. Open next week at Bethpage Black because of an eye infection which has left him with no depth perception in his left eye.

Karlsson is No. 14 in the Official World Golf Rankings and is coming off a year in which he became the first Swede to win the Order of Merit on the European Tour.

American Andrew Svoboda will replace him, the second straight year he has got into the U.S. Open as an alternate.

The U.S. Golf Association said Scott Lewis, an American amateur, is now the first alternate. Lewis gets in the U.S. Open provided no one wins the St. Jude Classic this week in Memphis, Tennessee, for his second PGA TOUR victory in the last 12 months.