Four months is the minimum time a player has to miss to qualify for a major medical extension for the next season.

After struggling for a couple of years, Atwal had finally made it back to the top rung, earning his PGA Tour card with a top-25 finish on the step-up Nationwide Tour, for the 2009 season. So the injury, coming early in the season and threatening to put him out for the year, was timed disastrously.

Surgery seemed like an obvious option, but Atwal travelled back home to India to work with Jatin Choudhry, a doctor specialising in an alternative magnet and needle therapy, and then worked on a month-long rehabilitation programme with a sports specialist in South Carolina.

Long way off

He’s placed 202nd in the money rankings at the moment, having been able to play only four tournaments through the season, a long way off the top-125 spot that would seal a place for next season.

“Still, I’m feeling extremely confident,” Atwal said. “The surgery would have set me back a long way, but my game has been in really good shape and now I’m just counting the positives.”