Australian Sarah Kemp feels that she is finally back in form, five months after breaking her fifth metatarsal in Germany.

The New South Wales Golf Club member, 26, was forced to take two months out from the game this summer with foot surgery but feels that the break has given her renewed motivation.

“Watching the golf on TV made me miss golf so much, it was terrible,” she said, after posting a first-round one under 71 in the the Sanya Ladies Open at Yalong Bay Golf Club in Hainan. “It’s nice to be playing again.”

She explained: “I broke my foot on Wednesday night in Germany and had to fly back to Australia for two months. I smashed my foot against a marble staircase and I didn’t realise that I had broken it. It wasn’t until the next morning when I woke up and it was black and blue and I fainted twice. I had to go to hospital and get an x-ray in Germany.

“I came back for Ireland (in early August) but wasn’t ready. The French Open was the first tournament where I played well.”

Kemp tied for 17^th at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France and shared 31^st place at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open last week but is targeting her season-best finish in Sanya, following a tie for 12th at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open in February.

“I had a good Australian summer, started off in the US okay, played Scotland and Turkey, had a week off and then Germany before spending two months back in Australia,” she said.

Now lying in 73^rd place on the LET’s ISPS Handa Order of Merit, she feels safe enough to keep her card for next season, although after her strong start in Sanya will have loftier goals than that.