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Thursday 3 OcTOber 2019

Koepka has

work done NATIONAL

on left knee

in offseason

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brooks SAVING
Koepka spent the major-
ity of his short offseason
recovering from stem cell
treatment on his left knee.
Koepka returns to compe- PLAN
tition this week in the Shri-
ners Hospitals for Children
Open, giving Las Vegas the
No. 1 player in the world
for the first time since Greg
Norman in 1988 when the
tournament was played in
the spring.
He said after his pro-am
round Wednesday that he
had the stem cell treat-
ment on his patella on
Aug. 25, the day after the
PGA Tour season ended
at the Tour Championship.
He said he was limping for
a few days because the
treatment was painful, but
he was excited about final-
ly feeling whole.
The treatment followed a
year in which Koepka won
three times, including the
PGA Championship for his
fourth major and his first
World Golf Championships
title.
“My knee was bugging me
from about March on,” Ko-
epka said, adding that the
final four months were a
“struggle.”
That makes him the third
player from the top 10 in
the world to have work
done on his knee dur-
ing the offseason, joining
Dustin Johnson and Tiger
Woods. None was too seri-
ous, as Woods plans to re-
turn in three weeks at the
new tournament in Japan.
Johnson is likely to return Juan Soto RBI leads Nationals
at the Hero World Chal-
lenge in the Bahamas the over Brewers in wild card
first week of December,
followed by the Presidents
Cup in Australia.
Koepka never talked Washington Nationals left fielder Juan Soto (22) can't field a ball hit by Milwaukee Brewers' Eric Thames during the fourth inning
about injury during the of a National League wild card baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park,
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019, in Washington.
season. Associated Press
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