Heinrich Bruiners knows a few things about second chances.

In 2010 he lost a major sponsor and a few weeks later was in a car accident that left him bedridden for six months and fighting against depression. Through sheer guts, he worked and willed himself back on to the Sunshine Tour, and in March won his second title, the Stella Artois Players Championship at Dainfern.

For the brother of a friend, though, that second chance didn’t come. During his own battle to get his game and his life back after the accident, Bruiners witnessed the trauma of a friend’s brother committing suicide.

Bruiners arrived at the scene just too late to help. “He literally died in my arms,” he says. “I couldn’t sleep for weeks after going through something like that.”

Behind the ever-smiling face of one of the friendliest professionals on Tour is a man who has been through extremely deep waters.

“In 2010, that’s when things spiralled,” explains Bruiners. “I lost my sponsorship and I went home in tears. Then the car accident happened. I was in shock. I had this whole different image in my head of how my life should pan out, and it changed in the blink of an eye.”

The car wreckage is testimony to the fact Bruiners was extremely lucky to even survive. Among broken ribs and a host of other injuries, the neck of his hip femur had snapped in half. The surgeons had to drill into his femur and insert a steel pin the length of a golf grip. The pain was so intense that as soon as he woke up from the operation he passed out. The doctors’ news that he would be lucky to walk again never mind play golf was another major blow.

“I told my dad there was no point to my life if I couldn’t play golf again. I was in bed for six months and couldn’t do anything. My parents had to take me to the bathroom. I spent six months on crutches after that. Then I woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and said to myself, ‘You look like a piece of $%*@.’ I was sick and tired of feeling like that. Somewhere you make the decision to be a certain way. I believe free will is within everybody, and you can make a decision to be different.”

By the end of 2011 Bruiners was given the green light to start moderate training again, and he threw himself into his comeback.

In 2013 he won the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate for his maiden Sunshine Tour title, after having completely rebuilt his swing around his injuries. But his second victory this year holds more significance.

“I’m more grateful to have won again because it meant a lot more than the first time. This one felt like I worked hard and earned it. I enjoyed the whole process. I didn’t wish away any moment. This win was five years of preparation.”

This win also underpinned a belief he had while lying in bed for six months.

“I always said I was grateful God made me a positive person. I always knew there was something greater within me than what was happening around me. I felt things would get better.”

“You know,” he adds. “Through everything, I never stopped being that kid on the putting green who says, ‘This is the putt to win’. Even on the putting green at Dainfern, while I was waiting to see if I was in a playoff with Haydn Porteous who was finishing up, I putted and said, ‘This is for the win’.”

And as it turned out, the kid made the putt.