Masters champion Danny Willett has withdrawn from the forthcoming World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, where he was due to represent England alongside Lee Westwood.
Willett was forced to miss the British Masters last month due to an ongoing back problem and said he did not want to risk aggravating the problem by competing at Kingston Heath.
"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 said in a statement on Friday.
The World Cup - which runs from November 24-27 - would have been the fifth tournament in succession for Willett, who was 75th in the WGC-HSBC Champions and 68th in the Turkish Airlines Open, both events having just 78 players.
The 29-year-old is currently in a tie for 54th in the 72-man field at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City and will need a good performance in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next week to overhaul Race to Dubai leader Henrik Stenson.
