By: GolfWeek.com | Alex Miceli
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Scott Piercy will undergo surgery to repair a torn flexor digitorum superficialis in his right arm on Thursday, according to his management company, Lagardere Unlimited.
Piercy, 35, withdrew from the Honda Classic earlier this week, and now it looks as if he will be off the PGA Tour for the next three to four months after elbow surgery. The operation will be performed by Dr. Thomas Graham at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
After his first-round elimination in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last week to Justin Rose, Piercy said, “I’ve never felt such pain in my life.” On Monday, the tendon was found to have partially torn from the bone.
The injury occurred at the HP Byron Nelson last year and has been a constant issue for Piercy ever since. After the RBC Canadian Open in July, Piercy was examined at the Cleveland Clinic and received a cortisone shot.
After Piercy tied for fifth at the PGA Championship, he underwent a second MRI, which revealed the tendon was frayed. He received another injection.
“It started in the muscles like in May last year, and then it went to here,” Piercy said, pointing to his right elbow. “Whichever started first, who knows, but the thing that’s been weird with it, it’s been hurt here for a while, then it would go down here (pointing to his shoulder), then it would go here (pointing to his forearm), and it’s kind of like a moving. . . .”
Even two weeks ago at the Northern Trust Open, Piercy was unsure of the eaxct nature of the problem but was using daily stem treatment for the elbow because of a belief that his muscles around the elbow weren’t firing properly.
That same week, Piercy also experimented with different shafts in his irons, hoping to dampen the impact, but found nothing to stop the pain.
“It’s kind of like the Scott Piercy flinch,” Piercy jokingly said of what point of his swing was painful. “It’s right at impact.”