"Wild thing" John Daly, Ireland's Padraig Harrington, New Zealand's Michael Campbell, winner of the Heineken Classic in Perth two weeks ago, and current Masters champion Vijay Singh are among the 150-strong field for the Carlsberg Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur starting today.
Daly believes he has finally matured at the age of 34 and has set his sights on another major victory.
He has been in the headlines for one reason or another since his extraordinary victory in the USPGA championship in 1991 at Crooked Stick.
His battles with drink, gambling, food and his own personal demons have seen him on the front pages more often than the back and saw him almost quit the game on more than one occasion.
But the former British Open champion arrived in Malaysia this week looking better than ever, and more importantly insisted his mind was as healthy as it has ever been.
Daly's talent has never been in question since his shock USPGA win a decade ago when he only got into the tournament as ninth reserve after driving through the night after a late call-up to take his place in the field.
"Mentally I'm better than I ever have been," said Daly. "Game wise there are one or two holes that grab me a little bit and I make a big number but mentally I'm fitter than I've ever been. "I've always been somewhat of a perfectionist and if things didn't go my way and I hit a bad shot I used to get very upset but now I just try and think of something positive to work on and I've been doing that the last two years.
"At Pebble Beach I had a couple of bad holes to start, made some big numbers, but on the 13th tee told myself to act like I was leading the tournament and go from there and made five birdies coming in and instead of feeling really bad and frustrated I felt good.
"That's been the major change on the golf course, trying to find a positive way rather than get down on myself." Off the course the most important factor in Daly's latest recovery has been ending his reliance on anti-depressant pills that he was prescribed.
"The main thing was taking myself off these anti-depressant pills last February," he added. "I lost 30lbs in the first two months I was off them." Daly is now down to 210lbs and would like to lose even more weight, something that should be possible in the sweltering conditions at Saujana Golf and Country Club.
Daly still has the taste for victory and has performed well so far in America, leading after a first round 64 in Hawaii and finishing ninth in Phoenix, but he will face stiff competition for the £104,000 first prize.
Singh is in confident mood after finishing second at Pebble Beach recently and is looking forward to defending his green jacket in April.
"I'm pretty excited about my game right now," the Fijian said. In contrast Harrington has all but written off his chances in only his second appearance of the season.
Harrington has finished fourth, third and second on his last three visits to Malaysia, missing out on victory in this event 12 months ago by one shot to Taiwan's WeiTze Yeh.
But the 29-year-old Dubliner is not expecting that upward progression to continue with only a first round defeat to eventual winner Steve Stricker in the World Matchplay on January 3rd under his belt in 2001.
"I had four weeks at home after Melbourne doing a bit of practice and went to see Bob (coach Bob Torrance) a couple of times, twice in the snow!" said Harrington after completing his preparations for the $910,000 event just before a heavy thunderstorm forced players from the course.
"I was fourth two years ago in this event, third with Paul McGinley in the world cup and second last year but I don't see it continuing this week. I'm rusty all through my game, I don't see any part of it that's particularly sound at the moment but you have to start somewhere. Last year it was Australia and I missed the first two cuts so I would love to play four rounds this week."
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