World number three Henrik Stenson still has concerns about his long-standing wrist problem as the Swede prepares to return to competitive action at this week's Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.
Stenson was troubled by the injury in the last few weeks of the 2012-13 European Tour's season-ending Final Series but managed to finish the campaign on top of the money list.
“I have had a specialist looking at it and there are still minor issues but I am hoping to be ok this week,” the 37-year-old told the tour website (www.europeantour.com) on Monday.
“The 10 days' rest I had was really necessary and I will go and get another consultation on it during the early part of the Christmas break.
“I was able to play through the whole Final Series with it and it wasn't so much about physical pain hitting golf shots, it was more the inflammation afterwards and the fact I knew there was structural damage in there.”
Stenson won the South African Open a year ago but had to withdraw from last month's event.
“I had been putting a lot of pressure on the wrist for a whole month and was getting treatment every day, taking anti-inflammatory pills,” he said.
“I have spent more time in the ice bucket than a bottle of Moet and Chandon over the last month and I just had to rest it.
“Once you are in a bad cycle you can't just keep putting pressure on it because your body can't take that. That was the case for me - I had to listen to what my body was telling me.”
The Nedbank Challenge in Sun City starts on Thursday. – Reuters