GOLF:TWICE FORMER US Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal said yesterday he will almost certainly not play in September's Ryder Cup. The 42-year-old, who is Nick Faldo's vice-captain for the Kentucky event, will make his return to competitive action at the Andalucia Open today after persistent problems with rheumatism cut short his 2007 season.
"Unless I completely recover right away and my game hits standards I haven't yet reached in my life before, as far as playing is concerned, I am out of the picture," Olazabal told a news conference at the Aloha Golf Club.
It has been Olazabal's second long spell out of golf after suffering arthritis in his foot in 1995-96. His most recent problem affects his knee, shoulder, groin and lower-back, hindering him walking and bending.
He decided on Sunday to ask for an invitation to the event co-promoted and organised by compatriots Miguel Angel Jimenez and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano where he will tee up with Jimenez and German youngster Martin Kaymer. "I'm going to take it on a weekly basis, test myself and see if I can cope with competition again," the seven-time Ryder Cup player said. "If my body holds up then I will reassess my situation. I do not know whether I will be able to play a schedule in America but if I feel the pain is bearable then I'm looking at playing Houston (Open) and the Masters."
Olazabal, who won the US Masters in 1994 and 1999, refuses to consider retirement but admitted he thought his career could have been over when he was in so much pain towards the end of last year.
"I have missed competition. I've missed putting myself to the test and it has not crossed my mind (to retire)," he added. "Did I think I couldn't play again? All last September, October, November, December. It was a similar scenario to my first problems in that respect. When you have total lack of mobility you hit bottom, for sure.If everything follows on track then that's all I am hoping for. I'm not concerned about results at the moment.
"I'm taking an injection every two months - and now I am here to see how I can cope with competition. My goal is just to see how my body will cope. The lower back is maybe the worst part - it gets tight as the round goes on.
"But I had therapy yesterday and will keep getting it pretty much every day. It's not reached the point where it's a problem when swinging the club - if that's the case I might not be able to keep on playing."
Last May he accepted an invitation from Nick Faldo to be one of his Ryder Cup assistants at Valhalla on the proviso he could stand down if he qualified. Little did he know then he would soon be sitting at home watching the race for so long rather than being part of it.
"I've had pain since before the US Open (last June). Last time it affected my feet; this time it was my shoulder, back and knee."
Olazabal completed the 18 holes of his pro-am yesterday, not surprised by how he played. "A bit of everything, like the usual me," he replied. "A few good shots, a few bad ones."
Lee Westwood has flown from the US to defend the title and will, of course, be heading back across the Atlantic for the Masters.
Five others who competed in last week's CA world championship in Miami - Jimenez, Anders Hansen, Kaymer, Peter Hanson and Anton Haig - are also in the field. Kaymer, the 23-year-old German who is currently fifth in the Ryder Cup standings (Westwood is top), is still not completely over the mysterious rash which appeared on his body last week.
Hanson and Welshman Bradley Dredge both need to win the title for a chance of jumping into the world's top 50 just in time to earn a place in The Masters.
Rory McIlroy, another of the European Tour's rising stars, hopes to put a run of three successive missed cuts behind him - while there is a first Tour appearance for English amateur champion Danny Willett. Earlier this month the 20-year-old from Rotherham, a Walker Cup team-mate of McIlroy's last September, won the Spanish amateur and with that went to number one on the world amateur rankings.
McIlroy is joined in the field by compatriots Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy, Darren Clarke and Damien McGrane.
