Van de Velde makes comeback at European Masters

By Norman Dabell

CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Jean Van de Velde makes his latest comeback from adversity at this week's European Masters when he plays for the first time since his season ground to a halt in July through the effects of a virus.

The 41-year-old Frenchman, best known for triple bogeying the 72nd hole at the 1999 British Open, has rekindled his career three times following a knee injury suffered in a 2002 skiing accident but came back to win the Madeira Island Open last year.

Van de Velde's progress in 2007 looked promising with three top-10s, including a fourth place in the Singapore Masters in March, but then his health deteriorated with joint pain and sickness, leaving him "a wreck on the golf course".

"It's a virus called mononucleosis, the 'kissing virus' that young people get," Van de Velde told Reuters on Wednesday.

"I had it a very long time ago and it resurfaced. This time my antibodies didn't work. It's six months for it to go and I first started with it in March-April, so I'm pretty much over it now," he added.

"I've also got too much iron in my blood and I still have stomach inflammation but that will go, too.

"It's so fantastic to lose the pain in my joints. I wasn't even able to carry my luggage. I was so weak and I couldn't go more than two holes without being sick."

Van de Velde is so delighted to be back playing he has even given himself a chance of making Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup team.

"Now I'm back and I'm looking at making the Volvo Masters," he said. "The Ryder Cup? It's a funny old game. People might say I'm too old but I think I still have plenty of golf inside."