After fatigue disrupted the majority of 2008, Jose Maria Olazabal is set to make his third career comeback at this week’s Madrid Master’s. The Spaniard – who will be surrounded by home comforts during the tournament – has not played competitively since 30th June.

It is thought that Jose Maria Olazabal is using this tournament to ‘test the water’ with regards to his golf career. The 42-year-old says that he wants to see if his body ‘can stand up to a tournament’.

Of course, it is not the first time he has made a comeback after illness. He suffered with polyarthritis a number of years ago which made him miss the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He bounced back though, winning the 1997 Masters at Augusta and helping Europe to Ryder Cup glory in the same year.

Then, back in 2007, he was struck down with a similar illness and didn’t play after August that year. During 2008, he made a small number of appearances, but now is the time for the real comeback. Should he struggle or fall ill again – that could be that as far as Jose Maria Olazabal’s professional golf career is concerned.

I personally hope he is back to his old self though – he is a great character of the game and let’s face it, he’s a fantastic golfer as well. He says he doesn’t have too many expectations for this week’s Madrid Masters and that his first target is to see ‘if I can make the cut’. It is more about proving to himself that he can still perform at the top level and he will start to find out as he tees off on Thursday.

Regardless of what the future holds with regards to his playing career, Jose Maria Olazabal will be involved in golf for a while yet. This is because the golf odds are tipping him to be the 2010 European Ryder Cup captain. He assisted Nick Faldo in this year’s defeat to USA last month and certainly has the pedigree to take over the role.

For now though, he will be concentrating on his playing career and hoping that he can match the likes of Martin Kaymer, Angel Cabrera and Miguel Angel Jimenez in the Madrid Masters.