Trevor Immelman returns to action in Phoenix on Thursday for the first time since having surgery to remove a tumour.
South African fighting fit after surgery
Trevor Immelman returns to action in Phoenix on Thursday for the first time since having surgery to remove a tumour.
The South African describes as 'scary' the time he has spent since he won the Nedbank Challenge invitational at the end of last season, after which he complained of severe discomfort around the ribcage.
The problem turned out to be a growth which required surgeons to open his back, go between two ribs and cut through the intracostal muscle to remove.
"It took a couple of days to get the results back, so that was pretty hair-raising, but luckily enough it's all benign and it's all been removed," said the 28-year-old.
"It puts a lot of perspective on things, especially as 10 days prior I was winning such a big tournament down in South Africa that meant so much to me.
Stayed patient
"You kind of go from feeling bullet-proof to lying in a hospital bed wondering if things are going to go your way.
"I just tried to stay real patient and had a lot of faith that the right things would happen. I feel like there's still things that I need to achieve in my career, so I was kind of just keeping those type of thoughts in my mind."
The setback came just months after Immelman had finally recovered from a debilitating parasite infection, that made him lose a huge amount of weight and severely interrupt his season.
But the South African feels he is already close to returning to full strength and is looking forward to playing in Scottsdale.
"My game feels like it's come back quite nicely and I'm looking forward to getting started again," he added. "I withdrew from last week, but it's great to be back now.
"Right now I probably don't have as much movement in the tissue around where the incision was, but from a strength standpoint I feel like I'm hitting the ball the same distance as what I was."
