When Kristalle Blum chose to step away from professional golf earlier this year, her expectation was that she would return.

Her mother – and coach – Christine Burton, wasn’t so sure.

“I almost thought it was going to be the end,” Burton said.

“I wasn’t sure if she would find her way back.”

The Kristalle Blum who tees off in Round 1 of the Webex Players Series South Australia tournament at Willunga Golf Course on Thursday morning is far removed from the one who broke down in tears following the Australian Ladies Classic at Bonville in March.

A star amateur who learned the game under the tutelage of her PGA Professional mother at North Haven Golf Club in Adelaide, Blum was well and truly on her way.

She won the inaugural staging of The Athena on the Gold Coast in 2021 and in 2022 took out the Golf Vlaanderen LETAS Trophy on the LET Access Series, the primary pathway to the Ladies European Tour.

Yet the heartbreak of narrowly missing promotion to the second-largest women’s golf tour the following year was the start of a spiral that almost broke her.

“I just really struggled mentally to get past that and let it go,” said Blum, who by finishing eighth on the Order of Merit missed out on one of five Ladies European Tour cards.

“Mentally, I really probably wasn’t quite strong enough or in the right space in terms of being able to move past it.”

After playing the 2023 season on the LET Access Series, Blum returned home thinking of taking a break.

Needing a break.

The lure of the Women’s Australian Open in Sydney proved too strong, however, where the now 27-year-old shot rounds of 79-81 to miss the cut.

“That was a bad week,” Blum admitted.

In her next competitive round two months later, Blum shot a career-best 9-under 62 to lead after day one of Webex Players Series Victoria at Rosebud Country Club.

The golf gods can be cruel like that.

“The week after at the Vic Open, where you should be feeling great, I felt horrendous,” Blum recalled.

“Super nervous, super scared. Scared that I’m going to play bad, scared that I’m going to miss the cut, all of these things.”

Pressure continued to build, yet the circuit-breaker kept getting pushed back.

After wrestling for a month with the decision to take a break from the game, Blum finally posted to Instagram on May 16 that she would be taking a leave of absence from tournament golf.

As much as the announcement provided its own sense of relief, it was the reaction from friends and fellow golfers that gave Blum the belief that one day she would be back.

“I didn’t want to get to a point where I was so burnt out and walked away hating the game because it’s a game that I love,” Blum added.

“It is just such a fine balance and having a lot of people that reached out, and then to talk to, did make me feel more comfortable that I had made the right decision.

“I was so nervous and kept breaking down and didn’t know whether I was making the right decision. All these negative thoughts come into your head about that choice.

“It was interesting hearing from people that they were experiencing the same thing but were too scared to actually do it or too scared to talk about it.”

After four months away from the game, Blum returned to Europe in August and played three events on the LET Access Series.

It’s now been two months since her last event, which makes her first four-day professional tournament in her home state the start of the next chapter.

“I am so ready for this week,” said Blum.

“Although the thought crossed my mind, I think deep down I knew I never wanted to quit.

“I just want to get back out and compete again.”

Webex Players Series South Australia hosted by Greg Blewett tees off at Willunga Golf Course on Thursday morning. Entry is free for spectators all four days and the final two rounds will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo.