When Robert Allenby was a child who desperately wanted to play golf, his mother Sylvia encouraged him to follow his dreams.
This week, Allenby sat beside his terminally-ill mum and told her he was willing to put those dreams aside and pull out of the Australian PGA and Australian Open to support her and his dad Don through the toughest time of their lives.
Allenby's mother was in a golf cart when he suffered his very public breakdown on the 15th green of Melbourne's Huntingdale course during the final round of Masters last Sunday, watched by thousands on television.
His mum had come out to watch her son play the final holes after he had declared he wanted to win the tournament just for her.
On Monday morning he was set to pull the pin on this week's PGA Championship and next week's Australian Open to stay by her side and to support her and his dad Don, who have been married for more than 50 years.
"I said to mum on Tuesday morning when we were having breakfast before I flew up here that I was happy to stay at home," said an emotional Allenby on the eve of the $1.5 million PGA Championship.
"I told mum 'I'm happy to stay home with you if you want. I don't have to go play'." "You're more important than golf, tell me what you would like me to do.
"She said 'I'd like you to go up there and win the tournament, so that's why I'm here." Allenby, the youngest of four children, said his mother added: "I'd love you to win the tournament, but if you don't win, don't worry about it, it's not the end of the world and I will still love you after it." He said his parents sold their house after he left school to help him travel overseas to try and qualify for events like the British Open.
"My mum and dad gave up a lot and took a gamble because they had a belief and they obviously knew what I knew," he said.
Allenby is confronted with death regularly through his Challenge Cancer Foundation, set up 17 years ago, which has raised close to $10 million to help children with cancer enjoy life to the fullest.
"Its hard sometimes because I get quite close to some of them," he said.
Allenby flies 10 children over to the US every two years just after the US Open and also uses money raised from his charity golf day to purchase televisions and computers to enhance their lifestyle.
A teenager who became good friends with Allenby's son Harry died last year which really affected him.
While nothing fully prepares someone for the death of a family member, Allenby believes the events of last Sunday have helped him come to terms with the reality that his mother is dying.
"We know what's going to happen and we can't control it," he said on Wednesday.
"The most important thing is that we give her all the love we can and give her all the greatest memories we can to keep her spirits high and keep her fighting for as long as we can.
"The same for my dad too."
He is praying his mother fights on long enough to see him try and win next year's US Masters for her.
On Wednesday he opened up about Sunday's breakdown on the 15th hole.
"I couldn't even see the hole. I couldn't see the line or anything," he said on Coolum's driving range.
"I said to my caddy Colin, 'I need the towel, I can't see'.
"My glasses had tears all over the lens as well and I said to my caddy 'don't worry it will be right, I'll just guess where it is' ...... and it went in.
"The ball sat on the lip for a few seconds and then fell in. I guess it was fate, I guess it was meant to happen."
