Seniors' Tour: Sam Torrance remains confident he will overcome injury and be able to tee off in the first round of the Senior British Open championship at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club today.

The former Ryder Cup skipper had to retire after only a few holes of Tuesday's pro-am because of sciatica.

"It goes back to Thursday morning last week," he said. "I woke up in agony. I couldn't move really. I saw the physio and chiropractor later and they said it was sciatica.

"I had a physio session when I came in but nothing today because the manipulation tends to inflame the area and you've got to give it a chance to rest. I can hit balls but I don't know how far I can walk. But I'll find out come Thursday morning. I've never had this before in my life so it's been a long time coming. You know it's going to happen. Just wear and tear on the body."

Meanwhile Greg Norman, twice a winner of the British Open championship in his prime, would love to tee off his over-50s tour career with a victory at the Balgownie links this week.

"I'm keeping my expectations down low because I haven't been there in such a long time," Norman said. "Really it's only my second tournament that I'm going to play in almost 12 months and I had back surgery in February."

There are eight Irish men in the field, including Christy O'Connor Jr, who captured the title in 1999 and 2000. He is joined by Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Denis O'Sullivan, Mark McNulty, Paul Leonard, TW Murphy and amateur Adrian Morrow of Portmarnock.