In-form Australian golfer Brett Rumford says he's still probably a year away from reaching full fitness after undergoing emergency surgery in March 2015.
Rumford earned back his European Tour card on Sunday by winning the inaugural World Super 6 golf event in Perth.
It was the 39-year-old's first European Tour triumph since winning back-to-back titles in 2013.
The past two years have been a rough ride for Rumford.
The world No.274 was rushed to hospital in early 2015 after suffering a blockage while competing at the Tshwane Open in South Africa.
Rumford had 30cm of his small intestine surgically removed in an ordeal that left him physically and mentally drained.
Although Rumford was back competing two months later, he knows his body still has some healing to do.
"I know that if I still work really hard and trash my body like I know I do, things just seem to break down a little bit easier," Rumford said.
"The surgeon said it would be three years before you're fully through it, so I'm just continuing to work on it and improve."
Rumford said his victory in Perth was all the more special given his recent struggles.
The six-time European Tour winner said he lost his love of the game during a tough 2016 campaign, in which he spent long periods away from his young family.
But losing his tour card at the end of that year made him realise just how much golf meant to him.
His win in Perth guarantees him full status on the European Tour until the end of 2018, and Rumford aims to make the most of it.
He gave his full support to the experimental format used at the World Super 6 at Lake Karrinyup.
The first three rounds were traditional stroke play, with only the top 24 players qualifying for Sunday's match play round, when golfers went head-to-head in a series of six-hole battles.
If a contest was tied after the six holes, the players would battle it out on a 90m shootout hole.
Rumford led by five strokes after three rounds and he continued his hot form in the match play format.
He beat Hideto Tanihara, Wade Ormsby and Adam Bland to reach the final, before doing the job against 17-year-old Thai prodigy Phachara Khongwatmai in the decider.
It was fitting Rumford won the title given he had dominated the whole tournament.
But he said even if he had been eliminated early in Sunday's match play round, he would have still backed the concept.
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