BLAKE Windred has another shot at a mega-rich tournament that "can change your life" and the Charlestown professional plans to make the most of it.
Windred, 24, will tee up in the LIV Invitational in Portland against global golf stars swelled by the inclusion of major winners Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.
The tournament, which has $36 million in prizemoney, is the second of the Greg Norman-led, Saudi-funded rebel league.
Windred banked $193,000 - the largest purse in his short career - for finishing equal 38th in the 48-man field, series-opening LIV London event three weeks ago.
"These opportunities can change your life," Windred said."Hopefully I can play some good golf and give myself a chance. Having played in the first one and experiencing the hype and excitement, it will help slightly with my confidence.
"After London, my coach wrote in our debrief that I didn't look out of place playing [a practice round] with Dustin Johnston and Matt Jones. I was hitting it just as good or better than them. But that was on a Monday. I want to be hitting it like that through to the Saturday."
Portland is almost certain to be Windred's last start on the LIV Tour this year. Each tournament is capped at 48 players. Since London, at least five US PGA tour players have made the move across to the rebel league.
Windred was runner-up to Jed Morgan in the order of merit on the Australasian Tour, which was initially granted two places at each LIV event.
"They have decided that my category goes back to one spot, so Jed Morgan will get every tournament and I won't have a start after this week," Windred said. "I understood the situation. I genuinely believe LIV will continue to grow and hopefully they come to Australia next year. I'm happy to have played in a couple of events. I still have opportunities elsewhere around the world."
Windred is expecting the layout at Portland to be "brutal".
"The course will probably be the longest I have every played," he said. "It is going to be a US-Open type set-up."
Windred had been preparing in southern Spain. He arrived in the US on Monday and will link back up with coach Gary Barter, who also works with top-ranked Aussie Matt Jones.
"Having my coach with me is massive," Windred said. "I have many areas to improve. I don't feel like I get caught out too much if I am playing a basic course, but when you are playing a world class set-up, I have been found out a few times."
The DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) last week issued £100,000 ($177,000) fines to players who competed in the breakaway series.
Windred has earned a DP World Tour card for next year and has been competing on the second-tier Challenge Tour.
"I received a release so I don't believe that applies to me," he said. "I'm not breaching any rules because I am not getting into main events on DP World Tour during those respective weeks. I will have a card on the DP World Tour next year and I'm very grateful for that. That is where I want to make the next step in my career."
