Robert Allenby&aposs new approach to his golf game and his life would appear to be already reaping rewards if Thursday&aposs opening round of the MasterCard Masters is any guide. While Allenby admits he left a few shots out on Huntingdale on the first day, his five-under round of 67 was the best of the morning. The four-time winner on the US Tour has undertaken a rigorous re-assessment of both the physical and mental aspects of his game in recent months and is confident he will reap the rewards. “The better you feel, the better you play,” Allenby said of his new philosophy. “I feel fantastic. I think it is showing in my swing and in my game, especially today. The harder you work, the more you get out of it. I&aposm a believer that you have to put in to get something out of it,” he said. Allenby said he realised that he can be his own worst enemy when it came to preparation and that he had decided to work smarter, and not necessarily harder on his physical fitness. “I&aposm a perfectionist and sometimes as a perfectionist it can backfire a bit. You work too hard. With my trainer Vern McMillan I set a program about 14 weeks ago and I&aposve been sticking to it every day. I was in the gym at quarter to five this morning for an hour. That&aposs the way I have to do it. I have to make sure that the next ten years are the best years of my life on the golf course,” he said. Allenby has also been working on his own mindset to ensure he can capitalise on this window he has to perform at his peak. He has been working with Englishman Peter Crone in a bid to forget the past and focus on a new perspective. “I would not say he is a sports psychologist. I suppose he is a mind guru. He is teaching me and getting me to get rid of all the negative stuff out of my mind, my body, to be a positive person in golf, in life and in everything.” he said. “I want to make sure that my next 10 or 15 years are the best I can possibly play. They only way to do that is to do something about it. I&aposve got rid of all the old stuff out of the closest and everything&aposs new.” Allenby said a discussion with former world triathlon champion Greg Welch helped him change his perspective and the man regarded as the father of triathlon in Australian put him in touch with Crone. “I sat down with Greg at the start of this year in San Diego where he lives and just talking to him alone really helped me. He put me onto Peter with whom he was working with for about a year,” he said. The 36-year-old said he has seen a major change in himself over the past few months, and he was hoping that would make an impression on those around him. “We all make mistakes and we have to move on. I am trying to make less mistakes, get out of my own way and really be myself. Myself is a pretty decent person but a lot of people don&apost see that. I have to make it so people do see that, see the real me,” he said. The real Allenby may be wearing a new gold jacket on Sunday if he continues on his form from the opening day.
Author: Bren O'Brien at Huntingdale