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 yesterday received the Dollymount Professional Golfers' Association Recognition Award at a ceremony in London, only started hitting balls again on Wednesday - having suffered problems in his shoulders and groin.
His latest lay-off 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-equalling 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 Open Championship 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 (his last appearance) to fulfil 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, he 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 reported.
"According to him, in six weeks or so I should be able to start really practising 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.
Olazabal, of course, is still on zero - because the qualifying started in September.
"I have a lot of ground lost - and being realistic I won't have played for five months; whenever I start, maybe Dubai, I think it's going to be a slow start. "
