Richie Ramsay to seek doctor’s advice on back pain

Scots golfer Ramsay has been struggling with a back problem. Picture: Jane Barlow

The Edinburgh-based Aberdonian is meeting Andrew Murray, who works as a Sports and Exercise Medicine doctor for the Tour, today to try to seek assurances that he’s not in danger of doing long-term damage.

“I want to make sure everything is working okay as I have a couple of issues with my back,” said Ramsay, who is due to head to Morocco next week for the Hassan Trophy. “It’s just wear and tear. I’ve done something to it in the gym and it’s not worn off the way it should.”

The two-times Tour winner, who was speaking as he took part in a Glengoyne-sponsored Q&A at Kingsfield Golf Centre on the outskirts of Linlithgow, believes Murray is the perfect man to give him the best advice.

“I’ve been to see him before so it’s continuity and the docs and physios on Tour are the best around,” he added. “I’m seeing him to make sure everything is alright because, despite doing the right stretching, it’s just not easing off the way it should.

“I just want to speak to him about preventative measures. It’s not something I’ve had before and it’s just gone on a bit too long. On long-haul flights – and we have plenty of those in our sport – it tends to lock up a bit so I just need to get some peace of mind.”

As Ramsay hopes to get the green light to resume his title hunt, a fellow North-East man is in contention to win the same event on the Asian Development Tour for the second year running. At the halfway stage in the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Championship at Selangor in Malaysia, Banchory’s James Byrne is lying joint third, three shots behind leader Quincy Quek of Singapore.

Byrne, the 2013 winner, followed up his opening 67 with a 70 which contained six birdies to sit on seven under par in the $55,400 event.

Quek, a 28-year-old, had two eagles as he carded a 67 that saw him pull two shots clear. His first one came at the third courtesy of a 25-foot putt and he then hit a 7-iron approach to six feet at the par-5 tenth.

Elsewhere, Scottish duo Conor O’Neil and Scott Borrowman finished fourth and fifth respectively behind the runaway winner, Austrian Florian Praegant, in the Mediterranean Tour’s Grand Final at Katameya Dunes in Egypt. O’Neil, who played out of Pollok in his amateur days, signed off with a 72 to finish on six-over as Praegant claimed the £5,800 top prize with a level-par aggregate. Dollar’s Borrowman, who won the first of the circuit’s three events in Egypt on his professional debut, closed with a 74 to finish three behind his compatriot.