Monty struggling as injury returns

The back complaint that may sideline Colin Montgomerie until the US Masters in April is the latest and worst in a series of injuries that are causing mounting concern in the professional game.

Montgomerie, winner of the European Order of Merit for a record seven successive years, is now back in Great Britain after pulling out midway through the second round of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth, Australia, won by Retief Goosen.

The 38-year-old Scot, forced to scratch from the English Open when the problem first flared up last June, is now resigned to a long period of treatment. "I've got to sort it out once and for all," he said.

But Montgomerie is not alone in suffering the consequences of a sport that is making increasing physical demands upon those competing week in and week out around the world.

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie had to pull out of the Dunhill Championship in South Africa earlier this month when emergency physiotherapy failed to ease a painful back. European Ryder Cup team-mate Lee Westwood suffered ligament damage to his left wrist at the NEC World Golf Championship event in the United States last August, and Ernie Els aggravated an inflamed vertebra and withdrew from his defence of the Scottish Open in July.

Even supple young guns such as world No 1 Tiger Woods and Spain's Sergio Garcia have reported discomfort as their bodies protest against the whipping action necessary to execute the huge drives that new technologies in ball and club design have made possible.