Crazy times now over for Masters champion Immelman

SOUTHPORT (Reuters) - Trevor Immelman said on Wednesday he had finally come to terms with a "crazy" roller-coaster period of his life during which he won the U.S. Masters and also underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor.

In December, the South African went into hospital after a non-cancerous growth that was about the size of a golf ball was discovered on his diaphragm.

Immelman returned to competitive golf six weeks after his operation and then captured his first major championship at Augusta National in April.

"Mentally I kind of went AWOL for a couple of months (after the Masters) just trying to figure all of that out, just how crazy the last six or eight months had been for me," he told reporters on the eve of the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

"It has been a little bit of an up-and-down kind of roller-coaster. After Augusta, I was in a space where I was trying to understand and deal with what I had just achieved."

When Immelman first discovered he had a tumor, he wondered whether his golfing dreams would ever be fulfilled.

"When I was first told they would have to go in and take the tumor out, you think to yourself, 'man, maybe I won't be able to play another major championship', maybe that was it for me, maybe my opportunity had passed," said the 28-year-old.

LIFELONG DREAM

"Then for me to go ahead and win the very next major and achieve that lifelong dream after everything I had been through ... it was totally overwhelming."

Immelman said he had struggled for form during that spell but he now believes he is on the way back.

"I found myself not playing as well as I would have liked but, after I started figuring a few things out, I had a couple of good weeks in the United States so my game has started to come back," he said.

"My game feels pretty good coming into this week so hopefully I can keep that going."

Ever since he first swung a club at the age of five, Immelman has been obsessed with golf.

"It is interesting for a child who grew up with golf, I just had golf on my mind 24/7 from the age of about five," the world number 15 said.

"That was the only thing I really wanted to do, it just consumed me. All I ever wanted to do was win major championships."

(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)