Luke Buttigieg at Moonah Links
Australian veteran Peter Lonard has been encouraged by his return to competitive golf after an injury-enforced layoff but knows there's plenty of hard work ahead of him to return to his best.
The 42-year-old missed the final weeks of last year when a back injury that had been troubling him was finally correctly diagnosed, with the recommendation that he take time off to fully recover from the ailment.
The injury capped a disappointing 2009 for Lonard that saw him lose his US PGA Tour card after eight full seasons on the main American circuit, with the New South Welshman forced to play on the secondary Nationwide Tour this year in an attempt to regain his card.
Lonard played his first competitive tournament at last week's New Zealand Open at The Hills but missed the cut despite having his chances to survive when he 'really paid the penalty' for hitting 'one crap shot' late in his second round.
But labelling his return 'reasonable' considering he had only started practicing a week earlier and conceding that he hadn't expected a bold showing, Lonard was most pleased with the way his body handled the 36 holes.
"It was actually alright," Lonard said. "It was pretty tight at the end of every day but it was acceptable so we're definitely on the right track."
"The physio basically said it's going to be three months of hard yakka just to get that right."
"So I suppose at the end of the day I've got to get fit before I actually 100 percent start moaning about my golf."
Back at Moonah Links where he triumphed in the first professional tournament played there, the 2003 Australian Open, Lonard is struggling with his length both off the tees and on the fairways as his body recovers and knows if the wind blows the course will be a far tougher proposition.
"I think last week was a good run out and I think hopefully this week I'll get up to another level," he added.
"Obviously golf's a game of habits and I've pretty much been doing the same things on and off the course for the last 10-15 years (but) at the moment I'm still hitting it a bit shorter (which) takes a little bit more getting used to particularly with a bit of wind."
"But I'm fresh, that's one good thing (and) it's nice to come back to a course we've played before, this is a pretty long course too."
"Obviously the wind is going to determine everything, you can get shafted on the draw definitely."
Joking that none of the young guns playing the Nationwide Tour called him 'grandpa' last week even though he 'felt like one', Lonard is under no illusions that there is plenty on the line for him this year as he bids to regain his card.
"Yeah it's going to be a big year or a bad year, there's no in betweens, it's either sink or swim this year," Lonard said.
"But like I said it's all relative to getting fit again and we'll see how we go."