Hand surgery for Keith Nolan

Keith Nolan’s PGA Tour dream has been put on ice by a painful hand injury.

The Bray man, 35, will undergo surgery for ligament damage to his left hand in Johnson City, Tennessee today.

And that means he will have to wait until next season to chase his PGA Tour card after being forced to skip this year’s PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Ranked 90th on the Nationwide Tour this season, Nolan hopes to come out all guns blazing at the end of January.

He said: “I’ve been dealing with the problem for about a year but it really affected me in the latter half of the season.

“I was playing in pain and I wasn’t able to practice as much as I normally would. It just got worse and I got tired of taking the medication and decided it was time to take care of it.”

While he is guaranteed more than 20 starts on the American equivalent of the Challenge Tour next term, Nolan has already started applying for sponsor’s invitations.