Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson could return to action as early as next week after escaping serious injury following a mishap with a chainsaw.

Donaldson, who secured the winning point as Europe defeated the United States at Gleneagles in 2014, posted a graphic photo on Twitter on Monday of the damage suffered to the little finger on his left hand while gardening.

Above the image, the 40-year-old wrote: ”So folks in my time off decided to have a fight with a chainsaw and lost! Oops!! C u in Dubai.”

However, Donaldson's manager, John Fay, said that the Welshman had not suffered any tendon damage and could even play in Singapore next week if given the all clear when the stitches are removed on Wednesday.

“Jamie has full movement in the finger and is expected to make a full recovery,” Fay said. “He is very relieved and will be a lot more careful in the future.”

Donaldson, who claimed his first victory in more than a year in the Thailand Golf Championship just before Christmas, had been due to play in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, a tournament he won in 2013.

He is not the first golfer to have suffered an accident with a chainsaw, with former world number one Greg Norman suffering nerve damage to his left hand while cutting wood in September 2014.

Asked in Abu Dhabi if he owned a chainsaw, Donaldson's Ryder Cup team-mate Henrik Stenson joked: "Why? Do you have some trees you want me to cut? It didn't start last time I tried, so it's probably a good thing.

“I used to chop wood when I was a youngster. I had a couple of close calls with the axe as well. It’s good fun to do something different and you feel like you’re strong, lumbjeracking. But it can be dangerous and we’ve had a couple of my colleagues find that out.”