Rodiles hit by injury again

Spaniard Carlos Rodiles suffered a real setback in his hopes for a Ryder Cup debut when he had to withdraw after three holes of his final round in the Dubai Desert Classic.

Rodiles, who lost a play-off to Fredrik Jacobsen at the Volvo Masters in November and was ninth in the cup race, suffered a recurrence of a rib muscle injury.

Pain-killers were taken to him on the course, but even though he followed his birdie at the second with another to be five under par, he felt unable to go on.

The 28-year-old also pulled out of the ANZ Championship in Sydney four weeks ago and had hoped that rest in between would solve the problem. But he has already decided not to play this coming week’s Qatar Masters.

“I felt it go again over the second shot on the third,” he said. “If I could have played on one-handed I would have done, but I couldn’t.”

Ireland's Paul McGinley continues to share the lead, with Mark O'Meara.