The 34-year-old played only ten European Tour events in 2004 during a battle with Pars Defect, a spinal problem that he describes as having been "horrific" for a while. He said: "I was scared of stepping off a curb it was so bad. It's sort of a stress fracture in the vertebrae – it isn't fused properly and it's some disease that makes your spine curve in a funny way.
"It's much more manageable now and I see the guys in the physio truck twice a day."