This was not the time or place to test a wrist injury.

Knowing that, the No. 5-ranked player in the world, Justin Thomas, withdrew from the PGA Championship on Monday, three days before the opening round at brutal Bethpage Black. The withdrawal left 99 of the top-100 players in the field.

Thomas has battled the right-wrist issue since he hurt himself swinging and hitting a tree at the Honda Classic in Florida in early March. He played in the Masters in April, finishing in a tie for 12th, but was forced to withdraw from the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago in Charlotte.

“My wrist is not yet fully healed,” Thomas wrote in a post he shared on Twitter.

It was made an especially tough decision considering the only career major for the 26-year-old Kentuckian came at the 2017 PGA Championship.

“Obviously, as a past Champion, this tournament is extra special to me,” Thomas wrote. “It consistently has the strongest field in golf and I’m disappointed to not be among those competing this year but I’m optimistic about a return in the near future.”

Bethpage Black is setting up to be quite the difficult test, as rain continued to fall Monday while the temperatures never quite got to the 50-degree mark. With the rough extremely thick in places, that could have caused quite a bit of trouble for someone protecting a wrist injury.

Thomas was coming in as one of the favorites, with his long and straight driving a strength that would have been rewarded at the Black. His withdrawal brought Kelly Kraft into the field, the 2011 U.S. Amateur champion getting into his fifth professional major.

There has been one other withdrawal: Sam Ryder coming out due to injury, bringing in Richy Werenski. By way of Sung Kang winning the Byron Nelson in Texas on Sunday — and by Kang already having a spot in the field — also drawing in was Joaquin Niemann.