Golfer's silver lining to having a 'titanium cage' in his back

"I got home three days after the operation and I was organising the golf day," Millar said.

"It's great to have a template from last year and we've had a lot of the sponsors - probably 80 per cent - return, which is great. What we did last year was amazing, so hopefully we can do it again."

Canberra golfer Millar and former Raiders star Sia Soliola will host the second "Sleepin Rough Invitational" next month as they set the target of raising $40,000 for the St Vincent de Paul Society.

They eased past that target last year, raising $60,000 after donations, a dinner function and auctions, as well as giving away another $50,000 when Brumbies great Rod Kafer nailed a hole-in-one on one of the jackpot holes at the Federal Golf Club.

The success in the debut year has filled Millar with confidence as he juggles recovery from his back operation and organisational duties before teeing off on May 6.

Millar now has a titanium cage in his back, which protects nerves after surgeons fused two discs in the hope of prolonging his career and ending the years of pain he has endured.

He has slowly progressed from putting to chipping and now half shots with a nine-iron, but he hopes to have his body in a good enough condition to make his return at the invitational event.

"The recovery rate on this operation is pretty high, so I'm confident I can get back," Millar said.

"I won't be rushing anything but hopefully I'll be able to fully swing the clubs at the end of the month. It'll be a bit of time before I'm able to get back and play some tournaments because of the volume of play required.

"But I'd like to play in this event and maybe one a day later in Queanbeyan to see how I'm going. It might be a couple of months before I'm right back into it, I don't want to go backwards.

"They shaved some of the bone, fused the L5-S1 joint and put a titanium cage where the disc was to open the space for the nerve to travel through freely. It was a decent operation, but I haven't had any dramas they said were a risk.

"If I didn't have it done, I didn't know when I'd be able to play again. I had to make that decision if I wanted to keep playing, I needed to get it done."

Millar was in scintillating form before finally succumbing to the back pain and deciding to have the operation.

He shot a 12-under par at Federal in September, and then backed it up with a 10-under par in December in his last round before having the surgery.

Now he's setting his sights on the end of winter events and the Australian summer to get back on track after injury derailed his time as one of Australia's leading domestic players.

"I was playing really good golf even though I was having that trouble with my back. That made it easier for me to make the decision to spend the money to get the surgery done," Millar said.

"Hopefully by July or August I'm good to go. There's a bunch of tournaments that I'm looking at and some Pro-Ams."

For now, Millar and Soliola are working the phones to build up sponsorship support and marquee players to bring to their golf day.

Kafer's hole-in-one was one of the highlights last year, but Millar was also blown away when they doubled their initial $30,000 target to be able to donate $60,000 to Vinnies.

"That was amazing last year and we've got O'Neill and Brown back on as a major sponsor. It's a tougher economic climate this year, so if we can raise $40,000, that would be great," Millar said.

"Sia has moved up to Newcastle with his family, but he was straight on the phone and said he wanted to still be involved and wanted to help. He's got a great spirit and a big heart."