Injured Walton withdraws from Wales

Philip Walton has decided to pull out of this week’s Celtic Manor Wales Open because of injury.

The 1995 Ryder Cup hero, who was set to make a rare European Tour appearance on a sponsors’ invite, does not want to aggravate a hip problem.

“It was quite painful last weekend and affected my mobility for most of the week so I thought the fairest thing was to stand down and not let the sponsor down by trying to play not fully fit.

“Obviously it would have been great to play Celtic Manor in a Ryder Cup year and get the flavour of that once again.

“But I just have to be sensible and make sure that I don’t make things worse. There are a few other events I am due to play and don’t want to miss the season by prolonging the injury - it’s really unfortunate.” 

Graeme McDowell, Shane Lowry, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Darren Clarke, Gareth Maybin, Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton will all be in action.