LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Defending champion Jason Dufner, suffering from a neck injury and struggling just to swing a golf club, pulled out of the PGA Championship just past the midway point of the opening round. After making a triple-bogey 8 on the 10th hole, he shook hands with playing partners Y.E. Yang and Keegan Bradley, a good friend, and returned to the locker room. "Theres no point to be out there hacking it around," he said before climbing into a courtesy car alongside wife Amanda and driving away from Valhalla Golf Club. "Its just pointless." Dufner ranked eighth among players battling for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Had he held on -- qualifying ends this week -- Dufner would have been guaranteed a spot. He previously said hed be willing to skip the FedEx Cup playoffs to be healthy for the Sept. 26-28 matches in Scotland. But he said the Ryder Cup was a "secondary" concern right now. Asked when he might return to golf, Dufner looked disconsolate. "It could be next month, next year, 2016," he began, "but not until Im healthy." Dufner has been coping with two bulging disks in his neck since the Masters in April. He has tried to play through the pain this season, and had an injection before playing in the Bridgestone Invitational last week. But he said the worsening pain, coupled with "fatigue, tightness in the shoulders and a dead arm" finally convinced him to walk off the golf course. "It gets progressively worse. You lose strength, speed ..." Dufner said his voice trailing off. He said he couldnt even be sure at the moment what course of treatment to pursue to deal with the injury. "Ive tried ice, exercise, injections, pills. You name it, Ive done it all in the past month. The only thing I havent done," Dufner said, "is rest it." A reporter asked whether having won the first major of his career at Oak Hill in 2013 made this blow easier to absorb, Dufner just shook his head. "Last year was last year," he said. 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Sure enough, the Tigers had their game against the Kansas City Royals postponed because of rain on Thursday.ATLANTA -- Jarrod Saltalamacchia knows most teams dont get many chances to beat Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel. Saltalamacchia drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, Henderson Alvarez won for the first time in three starts and the Miami Marlins beat the Braves 3-2 on Thursday night. "He threw me a lot of sliders tonight, which is not what hes done in the past, but Id swung over a slider two nights ago and struck out," Saltalamacchia said. "I dont blame him. He made a mistake and I was able to do something with it." In taking three of four games, the Marlins won just their second series in the last 10 against the Braves at Turner Field. Alvarez (7-5) gave up six hits, two runs and one walk with four strikeouts in eight innings. The Marlins are 13-3 in his last 16 starts. Kimbrel (0-2), pitching in a non-save situation with the score tied 2-all to begin the ninth, struck out Garrett Jones and had Marcell Ozuna struck out, too, but the ball a wild pitch rolled a few feet from the plate after bouncing off catcher Evan Gattis shin guards and Ozuna reached safely. With Saltalamacchia batting, Ozuna advanced to second on another wild pitch and scored on the RBI single to centre, easily beating B.J. Uptons throw to the plate. Saltalamacchia went 3 for 4 with two doubles. "I think its my third time facing him," Saltalamacchia said. "Hes an All-Star closer. Hes got great stuff and really has a great idea of what hes doing out there. In that situation, Im just trying to not get too big, put a ball in play." Kimbrel, a four-time NL All-Star, allowed one hit and one run and struck out two. He blamed himself for the wild pitches. "Thats part of baseball," Kimbrel said. "Not everything goes perfect every time you go out there. Youve just got to find a way to get through it and unfortunately we didnt do it tonight." Atlanta dropped 1 1/2 games bbehind first-place Washington in the NL East.dddddddddddd. Miami, which is eight games out, moved into a tie with the New York Mets for third. Marlins closer Steve Cishek earned his 24th save in 27 chances, retiring Freddie Freeman, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward on fly balls in the ninth. Alvarez had struggled against the Braves, going 0-2 with a 6.86 ERA in four career starts, and he was coming off an outing that ended after 2 2-3 innings when San Franciscos Joe Panik hit a liner off his left shin. Chris Johnson hit his eighth homer, a two-run shot in the second that gave the Braves a 2-0 lead. "As far as today, that one fastball I just left out over the plate," Alvarez said through an interpreter. "He handled it, but as far as my struggles against the Braves, its just been coincidence." The Marlins tied it 2-all in the fifth on Adeiny Hechavarrias RBI single and Christian Yelichs forceout. Aaron Harang, who was attempting to win his fifth straight decision, gave up seven hits, two runs and two walks and struck out five in seven innings. Marlins manager Mike Redmond successfully challenged that Justin Upton was out to end the sixth. Upton, diving back to first base after Heyward lined out to shortstop, was originally called safe by first base umpire Rob Drake, but the call was overturned. Redmond has successfully challenged 15 of 19 calls this year. NOTES: Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez gave SS Andrelton Simmons the night off and started Ramiro Pena, who went 1 for 3, in his place. ... With a throwing miscue in Miamis 6-1 loss Wednesday to Atlanta, Saltalamacchia has 12 errors and is tied for most by a Marlins catcher in a season (Miguel Olivo 2007). ... When Freeman homered Wednesday, he snapped a stretch of 83 straight at-bats without a homer, the longest stint of his three-year career. .... Ozuna struck out eight times in the series. ' ' '