Henrik Stenson was slated to play the Scottish Open this week at Gullane Golf Club, but he withdrew early in the week with an elbow injury. After playing the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills a few weeks ago and finishing T6, the 2016 Open Championship winner has been on the shelf. I thought he was simply recharging, but apparently this elbow injury is serious enough that he's considering not playing The Open just two years after winning it over Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon.

When he was asked at Shinnecock what he needed to do to improve on two straight top-10 finishes at the first two majors of 2018, the No. 17-ranked Stenson was his usual, humorous self. "Play better," he said before expounding on that.

"I did a lot of good stuff out there this week, but there's still ... for my wishing, a couple of too many unforced errors," Stenson added. "Just a little bit tidier here and there. Overall, I've done a lot of good stuff. More than anything, I've been fighting really, really hard this week. I had some great comebacks. I think the first day I was 5 over par, got it back to 2 over. The next day, I got it back from 3 over to 1 over. So to make those kind of comebacks was strong."

Hopefully, he gets a chance to do the same at Carnoustie next week.

Following his victory at Troon in 2016, Stenson finished T11 last year at Royal Birkdale as Jordan Spieth went on to win. Stenson did not play the Open in 1999 when it was at Carnousite, and he missed the cut in 2007 when Padraig Harrington defeated Sergio Garcia in a playoff.