Friday 11 November 2016 20:05, UK
Danny Willett's ongoing back problems have forced him to pull out of the World Cup of Golf at the end of this month.
Willett was due to partner Lee Westwood for England in the team event at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, but he will now take a break from golf following next week's DP World Tour Championship.
The Masters champion has been troubled by back issues for the last few seasons, and he revealed last week that he was undergoing swing changes in a bid to alleviate the problem in the long term.
Willett pulled out of last month's British Masters, supported by Sky Sports, after straining his back during the pre-tournament pro-am, and he has opted against travelling to Australia for the 28-team event which begins on November 24.
The 29-year-old issued a statement which read: "I was really looking forward to playing the World Cup with Lee Westwood, but considering everything, including the amount of travel involved and extra strain, decided that it was not in my best interests."
Willett admitted the changes he is making to his swing have contributed to his poor run of form since the Ryder Cup, and he now faces a huge task to overhaul Henrik Stenson at the top of the Race to Dubai standings.
Stenson ended Willett's lengthy stay at the top with his runner-up finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions, where the Englishman was a lowly 75th in the 78-man field in Shanghai.
Willett, who missed the cut at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the week after his torrid Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine, tied for 68th in last week's Turkish Airlines Open to remain over 250,000 points behind the Swede.
Stenson is currently six shots ahead of Willett at the halfway stage of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, where the Open champion can wrap up his second Race to Dubai crown with a win if Willett finishes outside the top 10.
