KEY POINTS:
Michael Campbell could be staring at another long break from golf after he withdrew midway through the first round of the Qatar Masters in Doha yesterday.
It is the second successive week and the third time in three events that Campbell has been forced out with concern for his injured right shoulder.
The 39-year-old now is uncertain whether to return home to Sydney or remain in the Middle East in the hope his shoulder may be strong enough for him to contest next week's Dubai Desert Classic.
"The pain has come back again to my shoulder so I have to be cautious about it and take it easy and be patient," the New Zealander said.
"I don't know what to do about next week's Dubai Desert Classic. All I know I have a long season ahead of me and I have to make sure I am fit for the remainder of the year."
He arrived in the Qatar capital on Sunday after withdrawing from last week's Abu Dhabi Championship having played four holes of his second round.
Campbell was in some pain earlier in the week but felt the shoulder was good enough to participate in the Qatar Masters after playing 18 holes in the Pro-Am on Wednesday while employing a shorter backswing.
The former US Open champion began yesterday's round with a birdie but the familiar pain returned and he lost five shots over the next five holes.
Four-over through nine holes, his day ended when he scudded his tee shot just 75 metres into bushes down the left side of the 10th hole.
He advised playing partners Rod Pampling of Australia and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland he was withdrawing.
"Maybe it's better for me that I take the next couple of months off and come back around March," Campbell said.
"The break I had over Christmas was good for the shoulder but it seems now it wasn't long enough. I thought two months would have been sufficient but obviously it wasn't.
"But not having played for so long my heart is saying to go out and play but my mind is saying I shouldn't."
It was obvious he was looking to protect his shoulder yesterday, which resulted in some erratic shot play.
"I am compromising my golf swing and only hitting the ball about 70 per cent," he said.
"My backswing is not a full swing and all these bad habits are creeping in already and it shouldn't be that way.
"It was not that I was in a lot of pain out there but it's just that the pain comes and goes.
"If I marked the pain out of 10, the Hong Kong Open was a seven, the Abu Dhabi Championship was a five or four."
After leaving the course Campbell consulted immediately with his physiotherapist Dale Richardson who advised he should take further time out from the game and get the shoulder fully healed.
"I'm 40 next month and I have to take better care of my body."
- NZPA
