"I can't walk properly and you can't play if you can't walk, " said the 49-year-old former world number one, who has yet to earn a penny this year after also missing the halfway cut in Thailand, Singapore and China.

"I just can't get rid of it - it's been a long time now. Just walking to the practice ground I'm knackered and after hitting 20 balls I am out of breath."

Woosnam was diagnosed in 1987 with ankylosing spondylitis, a progressive rheumatic disease mainly of the spine that can also affect other joints.