PGA Tour pro FORCED OUT of The Players Championship

PGA Tour winner Lanto Griffin has been forced to withdraw from The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass after sustaining an unfortunate injury prior to the flagship event of the season. 

Griffin, 34, has had to pull out of this week's tournament due to an intercostal muscle strain.

The 2019 Houston Open winner was also forced to withdraw from his last tournament on the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational hosted by Tiger Woods. 

He currently ranks 194th in the world. 

Related: Tiger splits with long-time girlfriend, who now wants to take him to court

A win for Lanto Griffin also means... pic.twitter.com/qYmtRCsuS7

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) October 13, 2019

Griffin will be replaced in the field by Ryan Armour, who won the 2017 Sanderson Farms Championship.

England's Harry Hall is now the first alternate.

Armour will be out with Ryan Brehm and Scott Stallings for the opening two rounds.

You can check out all the R1 groupings in the list below. 

Of the pick of the matches, World No.3 and 2019 Players champion Rory McIlroy is heading out with World No.1 Jon Rahm and World No.2 Scottie Scheffler.

Elsewhere, Justin Thomas is out with his good friend Jordan Spieth and in-form Max Homa. 

2023 Players Championship -- R1 Tee Times

All times Eastern; UK time +5 hrs

No. 1

• 6:50 a.m. -- Robby Shelton, Austin Smotherman, Min Woo Lee
• 7:01 a.m. -- Kevin Streelman, Denny McCarthy, Matthew NeSmith
• 7:12 a.m. -- Byeong Hun An, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Doug Ghim
• 7:23 a.m. -- Michael Thompson, Brendon Todd, Keith Mitchell
• 7:34 a.m. -- Kevin Kisner, Nick Taylor, Corey Conners
• 7:45 a.m. -- Trey Mullinax, Cam Davis, Tyler Duncan
• 7:56 a.m. -- Adam Svensson, Joel Dahmen, Robert Streb
• 8:07 a.m. -- J.J. Spaun, Chad Ramey, Luke List
• 8:18 a.m. -- Russell Henley, Mackenzie Hughes, Brian Harman
• 8:29 a.m. -- Emiliano Grillo, Mark Hubbard, Matt Wallace
• 8:40 a.m. -- Nate Lashley, Troy Merritt, Kelly Kraft
• 8:51 a.m. -- Aaron Baddeley, David Lingmerth, Ben Martin
• 11:50 a.m. -- Kevin Tway, Russell Knox, Chesson Hadley
• 12:01 p.m. -- Andrew Putnam, Maverick McNealy, Doc Redman
• 12:12 p.m. -- Beau Hoser, Adam Schenk, Stephan Jaegar
• 12:23 p.m. -- Lucas Herbert, Aaron Wise, Jason Day
• 12:34 p.m. -- Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry
• 12:45 p.m. -- Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele
• 12:56 p.m. -- Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth 
• 1:07 p.m. -- Sam Burns, Cameron Young, Sahith Theegala 
• 1:18 p.m. -- Chris Kirk, Seamus Power, Keegan Bradley
• 1:29 p.m. -- Sam Ryder, Davis Riley, Taylor Moore
• 1:40 p.m. -- Alex Noren, Thomas Detry, Max McGreevy
• 1:51 p.m. -- Joseph Bramlett, Justin Suh, Andrew Novak

No. 10

• 6:50 a.m. -- Danny Willett, Brandon Wu, Davis Thompson
• 7:01 a.m. -- Adam Long, Hayden Buckley, Taylor Montgomery
• 7:12 a.m. -- Tommy Fleetwood, Taylor Pendrith, Callum Tarren
• 7:23 a.m. -- Si Woo Kim, Webb Simpson, Tyrrell Hatton
• 7:34 a.m. -- Tony Finau, Tom Kim, Patrick Cantlay
• 7:45 a.m. -- Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler
• 7:56 a.m. -- Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy
• 8:07 a.m. -- Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, Hideki Matsuyama
• 8:18 a.m. -- Nico Echavarria, Sungjae Im, Harris English
• 8:29 a.m. -- Jhonattan Vegas, Peter Malnati, Ryan Fox
• 8:40 a.m. -- Adam Hadwin, Patrick Rodgers, Greyson Sigg
• 8:51 a.m. -- Nick Hardy, Eric Cole, Harrison Endycott
• 11:50 a.m. -- David Lipsky, S.H. Kim, Tyson Alexander
• 12:01 p.m. -- Kramer Hickok, Lee Hodges, Will Gordon
• 12:12 p.m. -- Ben Griffin, Matthias Schwab, Justin Lower
• 12:23 p.m. -- Sepp Straka, Garrick Higgo, Stewart Cink
• 12:34 p.m. -- Chez Reavie, Tom Hoge, Francesco Molinari
• 12:45 p.m. -- J.T. Poston, Lucas Glover, Matt Kuchar
• 12:56 p.m. -- K.H. Lee, Martin Laird, Gary Woodland
• 1:07 p.m. -- Ryan Brehm, Ryan Armour, Scott Stallings
• 1:18 p.m. -- Ryan Palmer, Patton Kizzire, Alex Smalley
• 1:29 p.m. -- Dylan Frittelli, Jerry Kelly, Wyndham Clark
• 1:40 p.m. -- Scott Piercy, James Hahn, Nick Watney
• 1:51 p.m. -- Aaron Rai, Dylan Wu, Erik Barnes