Why life’s been a pain for Tom

Sep 26 2008 By Roger Clarke

TOM Whitehouse might have opened with four over at the Quinn Insurance British Masters at The Belfry but he was just happy to be back swinging a club again after a month of pain when he was been unable to hit a golf ball.

He said: “I have been having injections for the past couple of weeks.

‘‘I popped a facet joint or something like that in my back which tore the stuff that stops your bones rubbing together and that really inflamed.

‘‘It puts pressure on my spinal cord where all the nerves are and gives me pain in my lower back and I have not been able to hit a ball until this week.”

The 28-year-old, from Coleshill, missed the Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles but then played the European Masters in Switzerland at the start of the month.

“I literally limped round. I played but I probably shouldn’t have, I did myself no good,’’ he added.

‘‘I was on painkillers and tried to play through it. Hopefully it is okay now. It aches a little bit now I have finished my round but it is a lot better than it was. I have not hit a ball for nearly four weeks.

“I am not pleased with my round but I am hanging on and I have to be patient.

‘‘I can’t expect to come back after four weeks and suddenly think I can play great, especially on a course that demands so much of you. You just take it on the chin and keep going.’’

Prior to Gleneagles, when Whitehouse could not stand long enough to hit a ball, he had been unable to practise and was just playing his round through the pain and going back to the hotel for ice treatment and hot baths to keep some semblance of mobility.

“Everyone else goes off to the range to practise and I have not been able to do that,’’ he said.

‘‘I have not been able to stand long enough to hit shots. It is frustrating not being able to perform especially as it is at home and everyone has come to support me. I would love to play well but this week is probably a week too early for me.

‘‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t do something in the second round and at least I can practise now.

‘‘If I can play that little stretch of holes that are quite tough, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, then I have a chance and at least I don’t hurt.”

Whitehouse was full of praise for the groundstaff, led by Kenny MacKay, for preparing the course in such good condition – although the rough was proving to be a problem not just for him but for all the competitors.

He said: “They have used a brush mower which sucks up the grass so it does not lie in one direction, it is upright.

‘‘Most courses where your average golfer plays the direction the mower goes is the direction to rough lies and you can hit the ball out of it.

‘‘Here the ball goes down to the root and it is so difficult to get club on ball but overall it is brilliant with all the rain we have had. It is as good a condition as we have played all year.”