FROM a seemingly hopeless position only a few months ago, Jose-Maria Olazabal is now looking to a return to competitive action by next March. Indications are that the dramatic transformation in the Spaniard's fortunes can be attributed to a recovery programme devised by a specialist in Munich.

Olazabal, who captured the US Masters title in 1994, faced a premature end to a sparkling career when he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The first impact of the illness was that he was forced to stand down from the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill in September of last year.

In fact he has not played competitively since the Lancome Trophy 15 months ago and he decided last September that he could no longer even practice. That was when he and his manager, Sergio Gomez, decided on a radical change of treatment.

The result is that Olazabal resumed practice last Saturday was back on the driving range yesterday and has very real prospects of being fit to play in the Desert Classic in Dubai starting on February 27th. If everything goes well, the 30-year-old will be heading once more to Augusta for the Masters starting on April 10th.

"By September last, we had been following a course of treatment recommended by an American specialist for about a year and there was no real improvement," said Gomez yesterday. "So we decided it was time to try something different. That was when we turned to Germany and to a specialist in locomotion in Munich."

He went on: "Jose-Maria was there for three weeks, then he came home for five weeks before going back to Germany for another two weeks. Working closely with a physiotherapist, this man has treated people like Linford Christie, Boris Becker and Gerhard Berger, apart from all the leading German footballers.

"It's amazing the progress Jose-Maria has made. If someone didn't know about his illness, they wouldn't notice anything strange about the way he is now walking. I am so heartened that if things keep going the way they are, I think he should be playing competitively again by early March, probably in Dubai."

Unlike previous treatments where the emphasis was on drugs, Olazabal is now exercising three hours per day while taking mineral supplements and, according to Gomez, a concentrate of shark's cartilage. But the player is understandably reticent about making any predictions.

"When I'm pretty sure I'm coming back, I'll be ready to face the media," he said. "But for that to happen, I would need to make the same progress over the next 10 weeks, that I have made over the last 10 weeks."

Ironically, the problem first surfaced in the country where he appears to have found a cure. During the German Masters in Stuttgart in October 1993, he noticed pain in his big toe. Still, he endured increasing discomfort through a highly successful 1994 season which included victories in the Mediterranean Open, the US Masters, the Volvo PGA Championship and the World Series in the US.

That winter, however, the pain became so severe that he decided to undergo surgery in January 1995. But instead of improving the condition, it seemed to trigger a dramatic regression, culminating in his total withdrawal from competitive golf after the Lancome Trophy that September.

Continued absence from the game for the whole of this past season, prompted fears that his career might be at an end. But now he is planning to get back to walking I 8 holes in the New Year. "He knows there will have to be a big improvement in his strength if he it to get through 72 holes, so there is much work to be done," added his manager.

Gomez concluded: "Nobody will get a date out of him as to when he will be returning, but I am confident that the signs are good. Sure, there were other times when things looked bright, but this time is different."

So, barring some unforeseen set-back, a brilliant career that has brought Olazabal 21 tournament victories world-wide, including the 1990 Irish Open, looks set to enter a new phase.