Rest – eight to 10 weeks in a cast – and not surgery will be the treatment for Tacoma golfer Michael Putnam’s ailing left wrist.
The Life Christian Academy and Pepperdine graduate suffered a fracture in the lunate bone June 22 while hitting golf balls at a practice facility in Raleigh, N.C. – the day before the start of the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour.
He played in that event and two more tournaments before withdrawing from the Greenbrier Classic during the second round in July.
A week later in Reno, doctors detected the wrist fracture. Putnam returned home and had been meeting with hand specialists for a month.
His hand was put in a full cast Tuesday by Dr. Carleton Keck of Seattle Hand Surgery. Keck also works with athletes from the Seattle Mariners and Seahawks.
“The injury is probably not as uncommon as doctors once thought, because it never usually gets diagnosed … by an X-ray,” Putnam said. “I had an X-ray today, and it showed my bone (was) perfect with no flaws.”
Putnam said he will get a magnetic imaging resonance (MRI) test in late September or early October to see how the wrist is healing.
His PGA Tour season is all but over, but Putnam could return in time for the final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School starting Nov. 30 in La Quinta, Calif.
Putnam will also likely be granted an injury exemption by the PGA Tour next season so he can try to earn enough money to match the 125th-place total on the money list. Putnam finishes the season with $398,400.
With the extended time off, Putnam said he will fulfill “lots of baby duties” with his son, Jantzen.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.