Daniel Berger to make first TOUR start since 2022 at The American Express

Daniel Berger will play The American Express, beginning Jan. 18 from La Quinta, California, in his first PGA TOUR start since the 2022 U.S. Open.

The four-time PGA TOUR winner has missed the last 18 months with a back injury that emerged following the 2021 Ryder Cup. Berger played through the pain initially but took a step away from professional golf to address the issues after missing the cut at The Country Club.

Berger has been deliberate in his rehab, taking it slowly and steadily to ensure proper recovery. He detailed the extent of the issues to the Associated Press in May 2023, saying, “It doesn’t feel perfect, but I know it’s not career-ending.”

Now, his career resumes. Berger was on the official American Express field list.

It’s been a long road to recovery for Berger, who first felt the pain in his lower back at the 2021 Hero World Challenge, two months after securing the 19th point for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team at Whistling Straits. Berger finished T7 in the Bahamas, but something didn’t feel right with his back. He continued to play through it, notching several strong results in the process. He finished T5 at The Sentry, fourth at The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, T13 at THE PLAYERS Championship and T5 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. All the while, he was in pain.

“That was the worst six months of my life,” Berger said. “I’ve had a pretty easy life. I play golf for a living — it’s not that stressful. But there was a point that I would have given up golf for the rest of my life not to feel like that.”

It reached a breaking point after missing the cut at the U.S. Open. After several months of rest, Berger was evaluated by Stuart McGill, a Canadian spinal specialist that Luke Donald recommended in December 2022. The evaluation revealed that Berger had a slight bulge in a lower disc and deep bone sensitivity.

Since then, Berger has been working to manage and rehabilitate the injury. Berger remained relatively quiet about the injury, declining to set a timetable for his return. Speculation of his return began to ramp up last summer after he posted a swing video to Instagram in August with the caption, “Back to work.”

He will have plenty of work to do in his return. Berger was No. 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking in June 2022. He is now ranked outside the top 600 in the world.

Berger’s return marks the third high-profile comeback to the PGA TOUR in the last two weeks. Gary Woodland made his first start at the Sony Open in Hawaii since undergoing surgery to remove a brain lesion last November. Will Zalatoris made his first start in an official PGA TOUR event since undergoing a microdiscectomy in April 2023.