EDDIE Pepperell’s hopes of a strong finish to the European Tour season have been dealt a blow after a back problem saw him withdraw from the Turkish Airlines Open.

The Abingdon golfer was due to fly out to Antalya on Monday, for what is the start of the all-important Final Series events.

But he was instead forced to cancel the trip, although the Frilford Heath golfer is aiming to recover in time for the climax to the campaign - the BMW Masters in China in a fortnight’s time, followed by the World Tour Championship in Dubai.

It is all down to an injury which has been a minor issue for much of the season and forced him to pull out at the Portugal Masters this month, just before 50 supporters arrived from Oxfordshire.

Speaking before taking the decision not to travel, Pepperell admitted there were doubts over his fitness.

The 24-year-old said: “There are no guarantees I’ll play, but I have hit balls in the last couple of days.

“I have had some lower back pain on and off all year.

“I slipped a disc on the range on the Tuesday in Portugal, which has never happened to me before.

“As soon as it happened I thought ‘this isn’t good timing’.

“I wanted to play but there was no way I could manage it.”

It is bad timing, given the rewards at stake in the final events.

Small fields restricted to only the top players offer big incentives in prize money and ranking points.

While Pepperell has already surpassed his totals from 2014, the 24-year-old had his eyes on gaining entry to some big events next year if he could improve on 33rd place in the Tour’s rankings.

He said: “Where you finish can have quite a big impact on what you get into next year.

“The top 30 gets you into The Open next year, possibly the Nedbank Golf Challenge and maybe one or two of the WGC events, so there’s a few things to play for.”