Eddie Pepperell withdrew from the final round of the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge due to a back injury that flared up overnight. The 34-year-old Englishman had been tied for the lead at 13 under with David Horsey and Albin Bergstrom heading into Sunday’s finale on the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly the Challenge Tour).
Pepperell hasn’t commented on the withdrawal, as he’s been inactive on social media since last summer.
This setback comes at a difficult time in Pepperell’s career. The two-time DP World Tour winner hasn’t claimed a victory since 2018 and lost his DPWT card last season after narrowly missing at Q-School. He’s currently ranked 538th in the world.
It’s not his first health-related absence this year. Pepperell missed six weeks after withdrawing just six holes into his second round at the Turkish Airlines Open in early May. At that time, he cited burnout and poor play.
“I knew before Turkey, but I certainly knew when I was heading off the course in a buggy in Turkey that I wasn’t going to see a golf course for a while,” Pepperell explained after that withdrawal.
He returned to competition just last week at the HotelPlanner Tour event in Pleneuf, France, where he missed the cut. Despite that result, he had shown promising form this week with rounds of 70-67-66.
“So far this week, I’ve played the golf I used to play,” Pepperell said Saturday evening. “I feel refreshed for sure. I feel much calmer and my energy levels have been a lot better which is a good sign. I’m definitely in a better place physically and psychologically, too.”
The timing is particularly unfortunate as Pepperell is trying to work his way back to the DP World Tour. He currently sits 74th in the Road to Mallorca standings, where only the top 20 players at season’s end earn DPWT status.
With Pepperell’s withdrawal, Horsey and Bergstrom played Sunday’s final round as a twosome.
