Better to rest injured wrist than put career at risk

I was extremely keen on participating in the Wills Indian Open and had slotted the tournament in my schedule. I could not play for the last twoyears as the event clashed with my European PGA Tour commitments. I was sure that I would be able to play despite the injury after consulting my very good friends Dr Rajesh Kapoor and Dr Mandeep Dhillon.

To my good fortune, there was an orthopaedic seminar going on in Delhi when I arrived. Dr Kapoor and Dr Dhillon introduced me to Dr AW Samuel, a well-known wrist specialist from London. One look at the MRIs and the X-rays, and Dr Samuel decided to put my wrist in a cast for at least the next three weeks. The doctors said that the good news is that I haven’t torn my ligaments, which would have meant surgery and four-month layoff. On the other hand, I have injured my ligaments and need to rest it for 3-6 weeks.

What hurts me is the fact that I am playing so well at the moment. There were quite a few European Tour events in my schedule which would have helped me go higher in the Order of Merit and maybe, get a direct entry into the British Open. I had to make a decision and thought it would be better to give the wrist some rest, instead of putting my entire career at risk.

When the clubface makes an impact with the golf ball, even the minutest of twitches can result in huge variation from the desired result. But more than the immediate effect, I thought of the bad habits that may subconsciously creep into my swing. Considering all this, I had to pull out of the Indian Open and go willingly out of action for at least four weeks.

And even though I won’t be there on the course, my good wishes are always with my fellow Indian players and the organisers. Feroz Ali and Arjun Atwal have made us proud by winning our own National Open for the past two years and I hope it will be another Indian holding aloft the trophy next Sunday.

To the sponsors, ITC Ltd, I thank them for giving me an opportunity to play the tournament and also for everything they have done to promote Indian professional golf.

This is the first major injury of my career and naturally, I am disappointed. But there is a huge silver lining to this dark cloud — at least I will be fully fit and free of the anxiety when I return. I am reminded of Andre Agassi, whose rankings plummeted from No 2 in the world to over 100 when he was playing with tendinitis in his wrist. Agassi also made a similar decision and stopped playing pro tennis for almost four months. But what a way to return!! Today, he is the No 1 player in the world. Maybe, something similar will happen to me.

(Tiger Sports Marketing)