One month out from the Australian Open, Robert Allenby says he's on the cusp of a career renaissance after fending off legitimate intentions of retiring from golf this year.
The 46-year-old tees it up at this week's Sanderson Farms event on the US PGA Tour for his first tournament in almost two months.
But the Victorian says he's glad to be playing at all after his most serious thoughts of quitting the regular men's tours.
"I've been contemplating retiring a little bit. Slowing it down, maybe," Allenby told AAP.
"I was thinking I'd take a couple years off (and) get ready for the Champions Tour at (age) 50.
"But when golf has been your whole life, it's hard to stop."
World No.885 Allenby says it is not the first time he's considered hanging up the clubs, but certainly the most genuine.
Last year, the former four-time PGA Tour winner was ready to give up after enduring a steep decline in form due to a series of off-course controversies.
There was the infamous Hawaii episode in 2015, when he suspected he was drugged at a Waikiki bar and reported being beaten and robbed before a local man was later jailed for using Allenby's missing credit cards.
He was involved in a public spat with an Australian caddie after sacking him mid-round later that year, before being removed from a US casino in 2016 for reported intoxication.
"The past few years have been tough. I wasn't enjoying the game; I hated it because I wasn't playing well and I had a lot of things happen off the course," said Allenby.
After unsuccessfully trying to regain his PGA Tour card by playing a full season on the secondary Web.com Tour, Allenby says an injury-forced break has him feeling reborn.
"I did my back and my tennis elbow flared up really bad. I had five weeks without touching a golf club and I haven't done that in 27 years," he said.
"I feel great; refreshed. I haven't felt this good in years.
"My number one goal is to get full status on the PGA Tour. I know I can still win; I know I've got it in me."
Allenby says his confidence surge has arrived in time for the Australian summer events in November, where he'll chase a third career Open crown before playing the PGA Championship.
A fifth victory at the PGA would make him the tournament's most prolific winner since it became a strokeplay event in 1964.
"There's no reason why I can't win Australian Open number three or have the most PGAs" said Allenby.
"There's still a lot of things I haven't achieved but I think I can do them as long as my body allows me to."
He is also the only player in history to win Australian golf's Triple Crown - the Open, Masters (now defunct) and PGA in the same season.
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