Olazabal plays through pain barrier

Golf

Jose-Maria Olazabal will play through the pain in the French Open in Paris today. The Spaniard has a small tumour on his right foot which, although only half the size of a grain of rice, is very painful.

"It is inflamed and is bothering my concentration," Olazabal said yesterday. Surgery is the only cure - and this only five months after he had an operation to shorten his big toe - but he cannot go into hospital straight away because of the inflammation, and he may even delay the operation until the end of the season.

"I'm taking tablets, putting ice on every day and am wearing orthotic pads in my shoes, but the doctor has told me that even if I rested for two years it would not get better," he said.