Evans sweats on shoulder problem

Gary Evans is praying a shoulder injury will not deny him another chance of Open championship glory.

Evans sprang to prominence with his memorable performance at Muirfield in 2002, finishing just one shot outside the four-man play-off eventually won by Ernie Els.

The 35-year-old from Worthing, England, who is now based in Dubai, lost a ball on the 17th hole of his final round but then holed a 50ft putt for par.

But he could be forced to miss this year’s championship at Royal Troon if he needs surgery to cure a shoulder injury which forced him to pull out of his last event in Qatar.

Speaking ahead of his first round in the Algarve Open de Portugal today, Evans said: “I was playing the ANZ championship in Sydney and started getting a bit of pain in my right shoulder, a dull ache. Then as I was practising in Dubai it started getting a bit worse.

“I was getting a lot of treatment from the physios while I was there, and they felt there was possibly and impingement in the shoulder and suggested when I got home I had an MRI scan.

“It got worse in Qatar and they suggested I shouldn’t play but being the stubborn person that I am I tried to play and after 23 holes had to withdraw.

“I went home and got an MRI scan and it showed there was an osteophyte, which is a tooth-like bit of bone growing down from the shoulder which was striking against the tendon and causing the impingement and the pain.

“There was a lot of fluid in the shoulder and they gave me two cortisone injections and if that doesn’t work it will be keyhole surgery.

“It is a bit of a worry, you don’t need this at the start of the season. I had 10 days off and practised yesterday and it didn’t feel too bad. Fingers crossed, at the minute it’s okay.

“I might not need to have an operation but you take each day as it comes and there is only one way to find out, and that’s to play.

“The cortisone doesn’t get rid of the problem but I’m trying to look on the bright side at the minute. I don’t want to be operated on unless I absolutely have to.

“They said the cortisone will last for eight to 10 weeks but if there is a problem I’d rather have it dealt with now and then I can be playing again in three or four weeks time.

“I don’t want to be playing for eight weeks and then all of a sudden for it to come back right during my favourite time of the year, June and July, I don’t want to be missing those tournaments.”