Injury is pain in neck during Indian Open

Either I am the luckiest person in professional golf, or the most unfortunate.

I call myself unfortunate because on the final day of the Indian Open last week, I sustained what must have been my 137th injury of the season. And I call myself lucky because despite the injury, I managed to close with a three-under 69th and finish fourth - one of my best finishes in my national open.

This time, it was a nerve that acted up in my neck. As usual, I was doing my yoga routine on Sunday when I suddenly had this terrific pain in my neck. The pain was so intense I could not even stand up for several minutes. I really thought at that point it would be difficult for me to tee up for the final day.

I had some painkillers and somehow reached the Delhi Golf Club and headed straight for the Asian Tour physio. I must admit she did a fantastic job. She massaged my neck and then taped up my back. By the time my tee time was announced, I was feeling much better.

Under the circumstances, I thought I played a pretty solid round. The tournament was won by China's Liang Wen-chong, who must have been returning favours since I won his national open a couple of years back. Liang started with a stunning 12-under 60, and after a round like that, it would be really travesty of justice if he did not win.

Coming back to my injuries, I started the season with a bruised wrist at Abu Dhabi, then knocked my head badly in a cart accident and suffered dizzy spells at Malaysia, followed by the ankle injury before the French Open which I am still carrying. In between, I have had three bouts of the flu, and a few days of abdominal pain for some strange reason.

But despite all this, I had some excellent finishes. The top-10 finish at the PGA Championship, where I had to pop eight painkillers to play 35 holes on the final day, will always rank very highly. The win in Austria was a surprise as I had absolutely no idea about the course and the one in Japan came when my ankle injury was at its worst. So, even though I have not had the best of years physically, golf has been pretty decent. Coming back to the neck injury, I have been advised at least five days rest and have pulled out of the Portugal Masters. I now have two very important tournaments in Spain.

(Jeev Milkha Singh is a three time winner on the European Tour)