CONSCIOUS of the danger of public scepticism about his condition, Jose Maria Olazabal has decided not to announce his comeback plans until February 10th. But his manager made it clear yesterday that the player's recovery from rheumatoid arthritis is progressing very favourably.

Gone is the fear that a sparkling career could be at an end. Indeed, Olazabal is now capable of enduring more physical activity than at any stage since being forced out of the game in September 1995, before the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill.

"We no longer need to speculate on whether Jose Maria will play competitively again," said his manager, Sergio Gomez, yesterday. "It is now a question of when he will play, not if he will play. That's a huge step forward."

Olazabal, who captured the US Masters title in 1994, had his last competitive outing in the Lancome Tournament more than 16 months ago.

The transformation in his fortunes is attributed to treatment from a Munich specialist in locomotion, who has treated such leading sportsmen as Linford Christie, Boris Becker and Gerhard Berger.

Starting the treatment last autumn, Olazabal went to Germany for three weeks and then returned home to San Sebastian for five weeks before going back to Munich for a further two week stint. "From the outset, his progress was amazing," said Gomez. "If you didn't know about his illness, you wouldn't have noticed anything strange about his walking.

Unlike previous treatments, in which the emphasis was on drugs, the German approach involved physical exercise for three hours per day, along with the taking of mineral supplements.

Olazabal has been "testing himself" during the last week by playing a round of golf each day. And he has progressed to so called full golfing days, by practising before and after each round, hitting up to 200 balls.

Though Gomez would not be drawn on specific details, it was clear that the first, big target will be the US Masters on April 10th-13th.