2015 hasn’t been an easy year for Tour Professional Brett Rumford, who had approximately 30cm of his small intestine removed in March due to a blockage caused by eating an apple.
 He lost more than 10kg in the week following the operation, completely derailing his season as he struggled with strength, endurance and distance o the tee upon a premature return to the course. For large periods of the year he did not even pick up a golf club.

As frustrating as the setback was for Rumford, his medical exemption turned into an unexpected reward for Western Australia Trainees when the five-time European Tour winner used the time to deliver an invaluable mentoring session with a focus on sports psychology, golf strategy and the requirements of being a Tour Professional.

"It was great to be able to offer the Trainees some support and hopefully share some of my wisdom with them. For me the goal was to offer each individual one golden nugget from
the experience that might help them on their journey. You can’t condense your life’s work into one single piece of advice to such a diverse audience, but I hope I left each person with something valuable," Rumford said.

"There’s no secret recipe for success, you have to and the best
way that works for you. Draw on as much information from as many different people as you can, then relate everything you learn back to your unique situation," he said.

"Most successful Professionals surround themselves with a quality network of people to support
them both physically and mentally. Finding the right mentor with worldly knowledge is very important."

Rumford spoke for about two hours at Wembley Golf Course, with great interaction and questions from the floor when he talked about pre-event preparation and methods of handling pressure out on the course.

Rumford also laid out a platform for a holistic approach to improvement and explained that you have to tick all the boxes to reach the next level in your playing career.

After his presentation and Q&A session, Rumford delivered an hour and a half of course management tips and offered his expert advice on approaching various scenarios; talking through different shots and decision-making processes while the Trainees played.

Brett Rumford only returned
to competition this year at the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship – his first event since The Open in July – and incredibly, he won the tournament by two shots.

"It’s been a really funny year and certainly the preparation hasn’t been anywhere near where what I would have expected to go out and win a championship," Rumford said. "It’s nice to have the juices owing again."

This week, Rumford is teeing it up in the Australian PGA Championship, Australia’s richest golf tournament in 2015 being played for AU$1.75million and co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour.

Tickets for the tournament are now on sale at Ticketek with children 16 years and under admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.
 
Discounts are also available for members of RACV and affiliated motoring clubs as well as for Gold Coast residents.
 
The Championship is proudly supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as well as the City of Gold Coast and Gold Coast Tourism.