After a stint back on the family farm, Matt Stieger is happy
to be back hunting birdies at the UNIQLO Masters.

One of Australia’s brightest amateurs, Stieger burst onto
the PGA Tour of Australasia turning Professional in 2012 and quickly securing
his first victory that year at the NSW PGA Championship.

Stieger then headed off overseas to the Asian Tour but in
the past 18 months has struggled with his performances and has dropped off many
golf fans radars.

"I’ve had quite a few people wondering what’s happened with
my game," said Stieger.

"I burst onto the scene pretty quickly and had a win early
on. But the last year and a bit has been a bit of a struggle.

Feeling burned out Stieger headed home to Narrabri in
country New South Wales to recharge his batteries; he quickly rediscovered his
passion for golf.

"When I first got out here I played every tournament that I
could. I thought I had turned Pro so I had to get out there and try to make
some money," explained Stieger.

"I definitely burnt myself out pretty quickly. Golf, with
how tough it is, to go out there and week after week miss cuts, it did affect
me mentally."

"I managed to go back to my home town, Narrabri and get back
on the country again. I went out farming for a week with my uncle and I thought
I need to get back to golf," continued Stiger.

"Mucking around with the cows is not where I want to be, I
want to be out on the golf course competing."

Coming into the UNIQLO Masters, Stieger set himself the goal
of finishing around Adam Scott on the leaderboard. After the first round he is
travelling along nicely placed three shots back of Australia’s first Masters
champion.

"We have Adam Scott here this week and sitting three shots
behind him feels pretty good."

"It was a goal this week, it’s Adam Scott, you know he is
going to be up there in the top-10 so if you can stick around him for the week,
you are going to have a good tournament." 

"He really pushed me a long; he kept making birdies so I
thought I have to keep making birdie as well. You can’t just go into your shell
and try to par your way in."

Looking to the future, Stieger is aiming to earn status on
the Japan Tour and he is just one more good week performance away at Qualifying
from achieving that goal.

"I have played decent the last couple of months now, I got
through to final stage in Japan so I am really looking forward to that," added
Stieger.

"That’s the next big thing for me, to hopefully get onto the
Japan Tour and show Australia that I am still around and that I can still play
golf."

Matt Stieger tees off in the second round of the UNIQLO
Masters at 12.45pm.