AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It seemed like an odd question for Trevor Immelman:

Which gave you the bigger high -- making birdies on the final two holes at the Augusta National Golf Club to become the 36-hole leader at the Masters?

Or morphine?

"Well," Immelman said, "I felt kind of bulletproof when I was in the hospital."

Immelman still might not prove to be bulletproof from the hazards and trappings that await him this weekend at Augusta National. But for two days at the 72nd Masters, he has been as flawless as one of the club's emerald-green fairways, as unflinching as a pit bull terrier.

He is also thrilled to death, which might be a curious choice of words.

It was only a year ago, at Augusta National, that a bizarre sequence of events began to unfold for Immelman, 28, a native of South Africa who lives in Orlando, Fla., and was the PGA Tour's rookie of the year in 2006.

By now, it seems almost trivial that he spent most of Masters week a year ago with a nasty stomach ailment that required intravenous treatments in an Augusta hospital. Not only did Immelman play in the Masters, but he also made the cut and finished tied for 55th. But the problems caused Immelman, who is listed at 5 feet 10, 170 pounds, to lose 28 pounds.

And that was before his real problems began.

"I just got a little unfortunate with the stomach bug," Immelman said. "That's just one of those things -- bad timing."

Once he regained his weight, Immelman began to play like he did in 2006, when he won the Western Open, finished second at Wachovia and the Byron Nelson Championship and came in fifth at the Tour Championship. He performed so well as a rookie that Gary Player, a fellow South African, said Immelman might be better than his other countrymen, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, never mind that Els and Goosen have five majors between them.

That's five more than Immelman, in case you're keeping score.

"I think it's flattering more than anything else," Immelman said. "Gary Player has been around the block a few times and is one of greatest players ever, so for a guy of that stature to say this guy has what it takes is a great feeling. Maybe I am good enough and I should just try to put it to good use."

On Dec. 8, he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in his native country, winning $1.2 million despite bogeying the final three holes -- a finish unlike the way he charged to the clubhouse yesterday at Augusta National, giving him a one-shot lead on Brandt Snedeker.

Then, another setback, this one a lot scarier.

"I went from winning a tournament to lying in a hospital bed waiting for results on a tumor," Immelman said. "It definitely made me realize golf isn't my whole life."

Several days after his victory, Immelman was playing in the pro-am of the South Africa Open when he developed a pain in his ribs and shortness of breath. He withdrew from the tournament and a magnetic resonance imaging revealed what was thought to be a spur on his rib cage.

But when doctors performed surgery Dec. 18, they discovered the problem was much worse. Immelman had a tumor the size of a golf ball attached to his diaphragm. The pain was so bad he had to receive morphine injections to make it through the day.

The pain would have been nothing compared to the agonizing two-day wait to determine if the tumor was malignant. Except that Immelman doesn't remember much about the wait.

"Well, I don't think I was really knowing what was going on that point," he said. "They were pumping me so full of stuff to get over pain, I don't think it mattered to me what the result was at that point."

Immelman was joking when he said that.

That's because the tumor was benign.

"It definitely gives you perspective," Immelman said. "It definitely made me realize that golf wasn't my whole life.

"But, you know, I have a real passion for golf and I put a lot of hours in and made a lot of sacrifices to try and succeed at the game. So I'm definitely driven to try and achieve things. While it gave me perspective on the one point, I was still trying to get back to the form I was showing before it all happened."

Of course, a lot of what has transpired the past two days at Augusta National has been an elixir for Immelman.

He has made just one bogey in 36 holes -- he three-putted the par-3 sixth from 30 feet yesterday -- and capped his second round with a 15-foot birdie at No. 17 and a 10-footer for birdie at the 18th.

"The whole atmosphere, the mystique, the way the golf course is set up, the way it's prepared for us, everything about this tournament and the venue, it's what dreams are made of," Immelman said. "Every single player here has a dream of playing in this tournament."

Others have a deep appreciation.