Injuries have forced Matt Millar to think about golf differently.
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He's been told he can only play three weeks in a row to manage a back issue, which kept him out of action for seven months last year.
So he picks and chooses his moment, coaches at the Federal Golf Club and has now launched a golf day with Canberra Raiders fan favourite Sia Soliola to raise money for St Vincent de Paul.
The one thing that hasn't changed? His self belief. Because even though he's channelling his energy into different areas and managing his back issue, he's still confident he can win in New Zealand this week.
"I've been playing pretty well the last four or five months since I've been back," Millar said.
"I don't see why I can't win one of these tournaments coming up. That's always the goal and I think New Zealand, I like the courses. It's a really good chance for me to put another win under my belt."
Millar will start a stretch of tournaments this week, including the New Zealand Open and the New Zealand PGA, and the NSW Open before returning to the capital.
The 46-year-old won the Traralgon Pro Am and the North Adelaide Blitz golf event last month, putting him back in contention for the order of merit title and burying some of the injury woes that have followed him over the past two years.
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"We're waiting to see how the back tries to repair instead of surgery," Millar said. "We've developed a plan so we don't overplay, but still play enough. Mentally that helps because it puts the mind at ease."
He has an extraordinary record on the Australian domestic tour, banking more than 100 wins over the past decade and dipping his toes in big events overseas.
But in between fine-tuning his game and helping others, he's been working with Soliola to bring together rugby league stars, cricketers and golfers to raise money for the homeless.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has cleared NRL players to be involved alongside Soliola, who's now the club's wellbeing officer.
"Matt loves the Raiders. The Raiders love golf, and Matt of course," Soliola joked.
"Matt had a burning desire to do something for the Canberra community and with my experiences with the homeless community ... it made sense."
Millar and Soliola hope to raise as much as $40,000 through the golf day and dinner after O'Neill and Brown plumbing jumped on board as a major back, and only a handful of spots are still available on the start list.
Retired cricketer Dan Christian and former Brumbies star Rod Kafer will also play.
"We don't want this to be a one-off event, we hope it's memorable and continues for years to come. Vinnies were keen for that ... we want to try to help out with something that can grow," Millar said.
"Both of our sports have been very kind to us and we wanted to give back and raise awareness about homelessness, particularly with winter coming up."
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