Fisher looks for heat and low scoring

Golf:Ross Fisher is aiming to take advantage of the absence of defending champion Lee Westwood from this week's €3million Portugal Masters.

Westwood won last year’s event in Vilamoura by two shots from Ryder Cup team-mates Francesco Molinari and Pádraig Harrington, ending a run of more than two years without a title.

However, the Worksop player will not be competing in this year’s event because he is resting following a recurrence of a calf injury.

Fisher headed for the Algarve in search of sunshine after two weeks of tough conditions at the Ryder Cup in Wales and the Dunhill Links in Scotland.

“Let’s hope it’s sunny,” said Fisher, who is 13th in the current Race to Dubai. “I could do with some good weather. It has been a very nice in the past. I’ve had enough rain in the last week and a half to last me a lifetime so a bit of sunshine will be very nice.

“I really enjoyed playing at Oceanico Victoria last year. It’s a lovely course – pretty long, which suits my game. I’ve got a good record there and went close a couple of years ago. It’s a place where I usually seem to do well so hopefully that’s the case again.”

The 29-year-old has acclimatised well following last Monday’s Ryder Cup success at Celtic Manor.

“I haven’t really found it difficult to be honest. I’ve just tried to continue my form. When you are playing well you don’t feel tired.

“The Ryder Cup was a great week and I feel like my game is in good shape and it’s continued this week - overall a decent week - and I’m looking forward to next week now.

“My attention has switched back to The Race to Dubai now, definitely. I finished fourth last year and it would be disappointing not to finish better than that this season.

“I’ve obviously got a bit of work to do in order to achieve that but I’ve moved up a bit this week and I’ve got some big tournaments coming up so it’s not over yet.”

Fisher’s Ryder Cup team-mates Miguel Angel Jimenez and brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari are also in the field in Portugal, as are Europe’s vice-captains Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn.

It will be Jimenez’s first competitive action after his fine performance in south Wales, where he won a crucial point in the final day singles by beating Bubba Watson.

The Spaniard will be looking to climb further up The Race to Dubai - he is currently eighth - with a good performance in Vilamoura.

Similarly, Edoardo Molinari, the highest-ranked player in the field in The Race to Dubai, will be looking to make up ground on the six players above him when the event starts tomorrow.

McGinley and Clarke form a seven-strong Irish contingent in Vilamoura alongside, Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Damien McGrane and Michael Hoey.

The European Tour’s Tournament Committee also met at the Vilamoura venue and later confirmed changes to the membership regulations.

From the beginning of the 2011 schedule, European Tour members will now be required to play 13 events, an increase of one tournament.

The 2011 Volvo World Matchplay Championship, to be played at Finca Cortesin Hotel, Golf & Spa in Spain in May, will count as one of the 13 events. The increase appears an obvious move to help prevent an exodus of top players with designs on competing in the lucrative FedEx Cup Series on the PGA Tour in a non Ryder Cup year.

It was also agreed a pro-am will take place over the West Course at Wentworth in 2011 to mark the 40th anniversary of the European Tour and the 20th anniversary of Seve Ballesteros’ last successes in both the PGA Championship and the World Matchplay events.

It will be known as the Seve Ballesteros Invitational Pro-Am with a limited field of 18 professionals and will be hosted on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at the start of the BMW PGA Championship week.

All proceeds from the pro-am will be donated to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation activities on behalf of Cancer Research UK.

Another item addressed gambling and the tournament committee instructed the tour’s executive to draw up guidelines and regulations related to any form of gambling on the European Tour.