JOSE-MARIA OLAZABAL is considering an offer of Irish medical help as he confronts the latest crisis of his golfing career. The 30 year old has been forced to shelve a planned comeback in this week's Dubai Desert Classic because of an extremely painful recurrence of rheumatoid arthritis in his right foot.
Olazabal has been out of competitive action since finishing 26th in the Lancome Trophy last September. He seemed to be over the problem when he partnered Seve Ballesteros in last Monday's exhibition fourball against Sam Torrance and Colin Montgomerie in Las Palmas, but experienced a setback later in the week.
"It happened after a practice round last Thursday on a hilly course over the border in France," said his manager, Sergio Gomez, in San Sebastian yesterday. "The foot wasn't much better when he went out on the driving range on Sunday, so we informed the Tour he wouldn't be playing in Dubai."
He went on: "I have since received a phone call from an Irish doctor who believes he can help. He seems to think that rheumatoid arthritis is essentially a neurological problem. We've had quite a lot of offers of help from all sorts of gurus lately, so I'm not too excited. But this Irish doctor is to send me further details by fax and we will certainly study what he has to say.
Clearly, the primary concern is whether the 1994 champion will be fit enough to compete in the US Masters at Augusta National on April 11th-14th. Contrary to television reports on Sunday night, Gomez assured me that there is no question of further surgery. "The interesting thing is that the only toe not affected by the arthritis is the one (big toe) which was operated on last year," he said.
"There was great improvement since the end of January and Jose Maria really wanted to test himself last week. I suspect the change in the temperature from San Sebastian to France did the damage. But I think he has a good chance of playing in the Masters and, as preparation, he would want to compete in the Players' Tournament at Sawgrass (on March 28th-31st). It's a flat course, which will be an easier test for him."
Either way, the plan now is to enter events only two weeks beforehand, rather than attempt a long range schedule. The way things are, we will not be trying to make deals," said Gomez. And what of the Murphy's Irish Open, which Olazabal won at Portmarnock in 1990? "It fitted perfectly into our original plans and most probably we'll he there," he replied.
After deciding to withdraw from the European Ryder Cup team last September, the player sought help from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and, on their recommendation, he put his faith in the drug methotroxate. "The pain is like having needles or crystals in the joints of my toes," he said. "Sometimes it crossed my mind that I would not play again, but I never lost hope."
Even in Olazabal's absence, however, Dubai will have a particularly strong field, including the defending champion, Fred Couples. Colin Montgomerie will be making his first appearance of the season, and the line up also includes the Dallas based David Feherty, who played in three events in South Africa last month.
In fact, nine Irish players will be in action, the other eight being Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton. Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Raymond Burns. And with Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo the only absentees from the European line up, there will be 11 current Ryder Cup players competing - Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Montgomerie, Walton, David Gilford, Sam Torrance, Howard Clark, Per Ulrik Johansson, Costantino Rocca, Mark James and Couples.
Meanwhile, two young players from opposite sides of the Atlantic discovered last weekend that 31 months can make an enormous difference in a golfer's career. The transformation was certainly dramatic for Tim Herron, who, in only his seventh regular USPGA Tour event, captured top prize of $234,000 in the Honda Classic at Coral Springs, Florida.
Almost 4,000 miles away, Padraig Harrington earned a more modest £3,465 for a share of 23rd place in the Moroccan Open in Rabat. The connection? Herron had an 18th hole victory over the Stackstown player on the opening day of the Walker Cup at Interlachen in August 1993.
In fact they produced the best golf of the day, sharing nine birdies of which Harrington had five. The Dubliner did remarkably well in taking the match all the way, given that he was three down after seven to the local player who had a predictably large partisan following.
Herron, known as "Lumpy" to his friends, was one of the key players in an extremely dominant US team on that occasion. And his competitive skills were very much in evidence in the teeming rain this Sunday when he displayed remarkable composure to win by four strokes from the experienced Floridian, Mark McCumber.
Having earned a modest $16,924 from six previous events this season, Herron's bonanza has lifted him straight into the top 10 of the US money list, in eighth position. And by finishing in a share of 17th place, Greg Norman is now only $54,321 short of the magical figure of $10 million in career earnings on the USPGA Tour.
Faldo also had reason to be pleased with the weekend when, after a dismal opening 77, he shot three successive 68s. More importantly, the Englishman had only 49 putts for his closing 36 holes, clearly a timely lift to confidence entering the countdown to the US Masters.
The Englishman, who made only three appearances on the European Tour last season, has entered for the £700,000 Benson and Hedges International which has switched from St Mellion to The Oxfordshire on May 16th-19th. With Faldo in action, it is hoped to have the victorious European Ryder Cup team there en bloc.
