Olazabal on way back

2007-12-21

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

By Mark Garrod Special to PA SportsTicker

LONDON (Ticker) -- Jose Maria Olazabal, out of action since August with rheumatism, is hoping to return to golf late next month - but he accepts it will be difficult to keep his Ryder Cup place.

The 41-year-old Spaniard, who received the Professional Golfers' Association Recognition Award at a ceremony Friday, started hitting balls again only on Wednesday - having suffered problems in his shoulders and groin.

Olazabal's latest layoff has, of course, revived memories of the 18 months he was out of the game in the mid-1990s.

On that occasion, he feared his future would be in a wheelchair after rheumatoid arthritis in both his feet was initially diagnosed - but that was changed to a prolapsed disc in his lower back.

Olazabal came back to win a second Masters title and three more Ryder Cup caps, the last of them in September last year when he won all his three games in the record-tying victory in Ireland.

This season, though, he has managed only one top-10 finish - third in the Players Championship in Florida in May - missed the British Open with a knee injury and then saw his health go downhill again.

"I was worried I was going to be out for a long time again, because of the amount of pain I went through," he said. "I forced myself to play the PGA to fulfill my number of tournaments in the States, even though I knew my condition was not the best.

"I've seen a lot of doctors, and they've done all kinds of tests. They know it's some kind of rheumatism. But they don't know what was caused it, and it's just a matter of treating the symptoms until they go away."

In September, Olazabal returned to Munich to see specialist Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt - the doctor who saved his career last time.

"He came up with the same diagnosis this time, so at the moment I'm seeing a doctor in Pamplona an hour from my home - and last Friday the news was very good," Olazabal said. "According to him, in six weeks or so I should be able to start really practicing pretty much normally - and then it's just a matter of time.

"The blood tests were good, and the swelling's pretty much gone. The next few weeks will determine how I feel."

While he was been resting at home - "watching them make birdies and bogeys on television" - Justin Rose and Lee Westwood have piled up more than a million Ryder Cup points.