Willett putting back to the test as he joins Ryder Cup stars

The 25-year-old Sheffield golfer has been carrying a back injury since January that has restricted him to just six tournaments all season and no competitive golf since March 3.

Despite the inactivity, he is Yorkshire’s leading golfer going into the star-studded BMW PGA Championship in Surrey’s exclusive stretch of real estate.

Simon Dyson and Richard Finch are also in action as they look to kick-start seasons that have yet to spark into life.

Willett has enjoyed two top-five finishes this year in a campaign punctuated with long periods of enforced rest.

Even though he is still not 100 per cent fit, the chance to mix it with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and two-time defending champion Luke Donald was too good to turn down.

“We’ve got the entire Ryder Cup team back, which is just amazing,” said the former Yorkshire Amateur champion, who was fifth at Wentworth three years ago.

“You get a tournament like this and a field like this and it makes for a really good week.

“It’s not just the course, it’s the event as well. You have massive crowds, it’s back in Britain which is rare nowadays, and it’s just a great place to be. It’s a nice place to be coming back into action.

“The reason I took all those days off was the hope that I would be 100 per cent fit for Wentworth.”

That he is not is a source of frustration, though he is determined to test the strength of his back with four days of competition.

Willett was struggling with an on-off lower back problem before it came to a head at the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of February. He resisted the temptation to fill his body with pain-killing injections, preferring to treat the injury naturally with rehabilitation and rest.

“It’s just a case of playing with a little bit of pain,” he said. “I’ve already had 11 or 12 weeks out and I can’t really be doing with having any more time off, I just want to get back playing, and this is the perfect time.

“It’s still a little bit painful at times if I do certain swings from the rough, so it’s a case this week of playing and seeing how it goes.”

Any more time off would eat well into what otherwise has been a promising season. Willett finished in a tie for fifth at the Volvo Champions in China in January and then at the Tshwane Open in South Africa in March, his last event before surrendering to his back. He has earned over £150,000 this season and sits 63rd on the ‘Race to Dubai’.

Willett is also in the Open in July by virtue of last season’s top-30 finish on Tour. That owed much to his maiden win in Germany at the BMW International Open, a title he hopes to be fit enough to defend next month.

“It’s a stretch of some really good golf tournaments coming up,” added Willett, who hopes to go to Walton Heath on Monday for 36 holes of US Open qualifying, if his back holds up.

“Ideally, I’ll get 72 holes under my belt here and feel fine, then go to Walton Heath and qualify and go to Sweden (next Thursday) and try to get four rounds under the belt there. I need to put it under stress and see if it can cope with the workload.”

Dyson and Finch are in desperate need of a shot in the arm. Dyson – third behind Donald two years ago – is languishing in 153rd on the money list while Finch is only 18 places better off.

Sergio Garcia has escaped punishment for what could be construed as a racist remark about Tiger Woods after offering an unreserved apology for his “stupid and out of place” comments at the European Tour’s annual awards ceremony.

During a question and answer session on stage, the 33-year-old was asked if he would have the world No 1 around for dinner.

“We will have him round every night,” said Garcia. “We will serve fried chicken.”

Woods wrote on Twitter: “The comment was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate...I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made.

Garcia said: “I want to send out an unreserved apology, I did not mean to offend anyone. I was caught off guard. I understand my answer was totally stupid and out of place. I can’t say sorry enough.”