From struggling golfer with a bad attitude to US Open champion, it's been a whirlwind 12 months for Lucas Glover.

And a year that began with him taking a break to 'gain some perspective' is coming to an end with a place in this week's PGA Grand Slam, the most exclusive tournament in golf.

For Glover the four months he took off towards the end of last year has proved to be an inspired move. He followed up his Open triumph with a string of high finishes including a tie for second at the Quail Hollow Championship, fifth place finishes at the AT&T National and PGA Championship, and a spot in the successful US team for the Presidents Cup.

However, the golfer, who before February had won just once on the Tour, at the FUNAI Classic in 2005, also recognises that the break he took could have easily left him looking like the 'dumbest person on earth'.

"At the end of '08 I wasn't in a very good place, and I just wanted to get away and put the clubs down and try and gain some perspective," said Glover in an interview with The Royal Gazette.

"My attitude was bad and I wasn't playing good golf. I was working hard not getting any results, and that's the worst thing. I was working, but wasn't producing, and that was tough to swallow.

"My attitude got bad, and I was kind of tough to be around, so I said 'I'm going to pack it in and gain some perspective.

"Looking back on it, it looked like a brilliant move, but if I come out of this year and lay an egg I'm the dumbest person ever, so it was just one of those deals."

As it turned out the break paid instant dividends. Glover's new found inner calm allowed him to keep his head during a dramatic final round at Bethpage were he held off the likes of David Duval and Phil Mickelson.

"I started out (the US Open) with a double bogey," said Glover. "But looking back on it, if that had happened last year I'd have missed the cut, just because of that one hole. I'd have gotten mad, and down on myself and I wouldn't have even been close.

"But I just had to tell myself 'it's the US Open, it's a long week, and everybody's going to have some difficulties and forget about it'. I came back and played a nice round."

Last year Glover had problems with his game. This year his problem is making sure he has enough time to rest so he can be at his best on the course.

"I've just been busy, and I've had to learn to say no to some stuff, and it's hard because I don't see myself as a selfish person," he said.

"But everybody wants a piece, and everybody wants to talk to you, and see you, and have you for their outing, and have you for this, and have you for that, and I've had to learn to be selfish, but in a good way.

"I still have to be rested, I still have to perform, and to do that I have to be rested, and so at some point I had to just say 'alright, this I can do, this I can't'.

"That's been hard because I've got a lot of people that support me, a lot of people that have been there for me, that asked me for stuff, and some of the stuff I just couldn't do.

"But at the same time it's a nice problem to have, you don't necessarily want the attention, but you want the notoriety, and it's good for the sponsors, and it's good for your career, but you've still got to be there when the bell rings and to do that you've got to be rested, and you've got to feel like you've done the right stuff to prepare."

There's no danger of Glover getting carried away though, not when he has friends like Johnson Wagner on hand.

Wagner welcomed the new US Open champion with a cream pie in the face the very next time he stepped on to the tee at the Travelers Championship Pro-Am.

"Johnson Wagner got me pretty good," said Glover. "We had talked about it at Memorial a couple of weeks prior, why doesn't someone do that in golf, because it would be funny, it'd bring something new, little did I know I'd be the first one.

"It was funny, it was the first time I'd ever been announced as the US Open champ and there I am, happy as I can be, about to hit a tee-shot at the Pro-Am and boom I get a pie in the face.

"He got me good, I haven't got him back yet, I don't know if I'm going to, but I'm thinking about it."

Glover's year has pretty much been non-stop since that moment, and he now finds himself playing in a tournament that he hadn't even thought about 12 months ago.

"I'd won one tournament before the big week," he said, "I hadn't really ever been in contention in a major so it (the Grand Slam) wasn't in the front of my mind obviously. It's a goal, but it was one of those that you don't think about until they tell you, 'you can come'."

This week then is a reward for Glover and the other three major winners, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, and Y.E. Yang, for their success this year. And while Glover will play to win, he's also intending to have some fun doing it.

"Obviously any time you compete, and I think all four of us would say the same thing, you want to win," he said. "But at the same time it is a fun, rewarding, event, and that's how I'm going to treat it.

"I'll be ready to play, but I'm going to have fun doing it. I'm not going to be hitting many balls after the round, I'm going to be spending time with my family, I've got a bunch of friends coming, and obviously in a place like Bermuda you want to have some time to have some fun.

"Before the round it'll be status quo as far as getting ready and preparation, and during the round I'll be concentrating the same, but I'm going to laugh off and have a good time with Stewart and Angel and YE, and just have fun.

"I think we would be foolish if we said we didn't want to win, but it's a fun week and that's how I'm going to treat it."