A NIGHTMARE journey to Asia, which left John Harrison in agony and flat on his back for five days, has led to the PGA initiating steps to remedy a lapse in the European Senior Tour’s medical procedure.

The only member of the tour who coaches at a club, Harrison hopes to be back at work at Matfen Hall next week almost three weeks after being laid low by a slipped disc.

The injury was diagnosed following an MRI scan only after he returned home last week from Brunei, where he had hoped to play the Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters.

“I woke up in Brunei on the morning of the practice day with a stabbing pain in the backside”, said Harrison. “I just did a bit of putting practice.

“There was no physiotherapist at the tournament, so I could get no treatment, but I decided to play and see how it went. If there had have been a physio there, it is possible I might have been advised not to play.”

The following morning Harrison had little movement in his lower back and took pain killers before starting the first round. He completed only eight holes before realising he had made the wrong decision and was forced to retire from the tournament.

“It was a miracle my score was no worse than two over,” he said. “I only had ten putts, so at least the putting practice worked, but the pain had become unbearable.

“By the evening I was on crutches, but in terms of medical assistance, there was nothing more I could get in Brunei other than stronger pain killers.

“I ended up flat out in agony in my hotel bed and I was lucky my wife Jo, who caddies for me, was there because she was able to dress me.”

The 50-year-old Harrison withdrew from the following week’s tournament in China and endured a 17-hour return flight from Brunei to London. From there, his wife drove him home to Newcastle with Harrison stretching out on the back seat.

As a financial exercise Harrison’s Brunei experience was equally painful, costing him around £5,000 in travel, accommodation and lost coaching fees. “The money is not as important as the fact that the promoters of the tournament did not have a physio at the event and that they could not even supply one when I obviously needed a physio badly,” he said. “If I had not had Jo with me, and the kind help of some of the other tour players, I would have been in a terrible state.

“The new Senior Tour chairman, DJ Russell, was particularly considerate, helping us re-arrange flights and doing what he could, but I had to make it clear I felt there should have been a tournament physio. I got the strong impression from talking to DJ that the tour will never allow that to happen again.

“I am not even going to think about hitting a ball for a month and I am looking at probably six weeks from now before I am back playing.

“I shall just have to talk through my coaching as best I can, because a lot of what I do is demonstrating the right shot or physically guiding a player through the right muscle movement.”