Stuart Appleby with Ella Appleby, Mia Appleby and Max Appleby
Australian Stuart Appleby has suffered an injury setback on the eve of the US Masters at Augusta National.
He woke up on Monday with pain in his lower back and could not even take a golf stance, let alone hit a ball.
"It was really, really, really bad," he said.
"There was a bit of a nerve issue. I couldn't put two palms together to take a putting stance. I couldn't even stand over the ball."
"As soon as I went to stand up and get some arch, it felt like a 300-pound guy had jumped on my back."
On his trainer's advice, the 39-year-old Victorian iced the area for two days and was able to practice and take part in Wednesday's traditional par-three competition. But he was still not sure how he would pull up for day one of the tournament.
"The body's ruling me right now," he said.
"I hope I can get back to something that resembles good club-head speed and good predictable hitting tomorrow (Thursday), we'll see."
"I don't have any expectations. I can't even expect to tee it up tomorrow. I'd like to, but I just don't know."
"I'll be right, I hope, but I'll just have to wind down my yardages."
"But if I can get through tomorrow with a half-decent score, Friday could be a normal day of golf."
