KEVIN Spurgeon's dreams of Senior Open glory have been dashed after he was forced to pull out on the eve of the tournament through injury.

The Ferndown touring professional was set to pit his wits against Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and a host of former Major winners at Muirfield in the Senior Open Championship.

But a freak thumb injury sustained in practice has forced the 52-year-old to withdraw and could sideline him for several weeks.

Spurgeon told the Daily Echo: "I'm absolutely gutted - it is the biggest event of the season.

"I was out for practice round on Wednesday and I felt a bit of a twinge in my thumb, but didn't think much of it and carried on.

"But when I came off, I went to see the physio for a bit of treatment and told him what had happened. An hour later, it felt as though I'd broken my wrist - the pain was immense.

"It just flared up and I couldn't move it - I couldn't even drive to the hospital."

Spurgeon was informed that ligament damage had been the cause of the pain, but he was left scratching his head on what had caused the injury.

He said: "I had the X-rays and it turns out that I've ruptured a bit of ligament which has pulled a bit of the bone away from my thumb.

"But there was no particular shot where I felt anything happen. It wasn't like I hit the ground especially hard or anything like that. It just flared up out of nowhere."

The injury comes as a bitter blow to Spurgeon who was in high spirits and good form as he prepared for the Muirfield showpiece.

He said: "I've just got my swing working nicely so I was going into the event feeling really confident, but this has just knocked me sideways."

Although he is now set to miss next week's Senior Masters event at Wentworth as well, Spurgeon insists he will err on the side of caution, rather than risk returning too soon and doing further damage.

He said: "Hopefully, even if I have to take a few weeks off I should have already made enough money already to stay in the top 30 or so, but it's the Wentworth event next week and I'll have to miss that one as well.

"But I'll listen to the experts. If I try and come back too soon, I could do more damage, so I just have to be patient and make sure it's right before I try and play again."