Having spent 18 months out of the game in the mid-1990s, the two-time Masters champion has been out of action for seven months - again with rheumatism problems.

"When you have pain and a total lack of mobility you hit bottom, for sure," said Olazabal on the eve of his Thursday tee-off in the Andalucian Open at Aloha in southern Spain.

Asked if he had thought he might be forced into retirement, he added: "September, October, November, December. Do you want me to go on?

"It's been very painful, and I still don't feel great. But I'm better than I have been for the last few months, and that is a positive sign.

"If everything follows on track then that's all I am hoping for. I'm not expecting any firworks and I'm concerned about results at the moment.

"I'm taking an injection every two months - and now I am here to see how I can cope with competition.

"My goal is just to see how my body will cope. The lower back is maybe the worst part - it gets tight as the round goes on.

"But I had therapy yesterday and will keep getting it pretty much every day. It's not reached the point where it's a problem when swinging the club - if that's the case I might not be able to keep on playing."

Olazabal will make a decision after this week whether to play next week's Houston Open. After that, of course, comes The Masters. But despite his love of Augusta - and his record there - he states he will play only if he feels up to it.

As for the Ryder Cup in September, the 42-year-old - winner of all his three games on his return to the team two years ago - has still to earn a qualifying point seven months into the race and he rules out keeping his place "unless my game hits standards I have not seen before".

Last May he accepted an invitation from Nick Faldo to be one of his assistants at Valhalla on the proviso he could stand down if he qualified.

Little did he know then that he would soon be sitting at home watching the race for so long rather than being part of it.

"I've had pain since before the US Open (last June). Last time it affected my feet; this time it was my shoulder, back and knee."

Olazabal completed the 18 holes of his pro-am today, not surprised by how he played.

"A bit of everything, like the usual me," he replied.

"A few good shots, a few bad ones."

In the meantime, Lee Westwood has flown from America to defend the title and will, of course, be heading back across the Atlantic for The Masters.

Five others who competed in last week's CA world championship in Miami - Miguel Angel Jimenez, Anders Hansen, Martin Kaymer, Peter Hanson and Anton Haig - are also in the field.

Kaymer, the 23-year-old German who is currently fifth in the Ryder Cup standings (Westwood is top), is still not completely over the mysterious rash which appeared on his body last week.

Hanson and Welshman Bradley Dredge both need to win the title on Sunday for a chance of jumping into the world's top 50 just in time to earn a place in The Masters.

Rory McIlroy, another of the European Tour's rising stars, hopes to put a run of three successive missed cuts behind him - while there is a first Tour appearance for English amateur champion Danny Willett.

Earlier this month the 20-year-old from Rotherham, a Walker Cup team-mate of McIlroy's last September, won the Spanish amateur and with that went to number one on the world amateur rankings.