Colin Montgomerie will be looking to continue his rich vein of form in Ireland when the Murphy's Irish Open tees off at Fota Island in Cork tomorrow morning.
The seven-times number one has finished in the top four in his last four starts in Europe and, although he missed the cut by a shot at the US Open a fortnight ago, the Scot starts as favourite for the first prize in a tournament which he has already won on three occasions.
Montgomerie enjoyed a pillar-to-post victory at Fota last year when he spreadeagled the field with a first-round 63 and went on to win by five strokes from Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Niclas Fasth.
Clarke and Harrington head the home challenge. Clarke won the Smurfit European Open last year but it is 20 years since John O'Leary was the last Irishman to taste victory in this event.
The absence of Paul McGinley weakens the chances of bridging that gap. The Dubliner has decided to rest after poor recent form and misses the tournament for the first time since turning professional in 1991.
Clarke and Harrington are both in good form however. Clarke picked up his first win of the season at the Compass Group English Open earlier this month while Harrington finished joint seventh at Bethpage, his second top 10 finish of the year in major championships.
Seven members of the current European Ryder Cup team are taking part with Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Philip Price and Fasth joining Montgomerie, Clarke and Harrington.
Volvo PGA Champion Anders Hansen tees it up for the first time since his surprise win at Wentworth a month ago and Seve Ballesteros is also back in action.
The Spaniard, who shares the record of three Irish Open wins with Montgomerie, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer, enjoyed a shock one-hole win over the Scot when the pair met as opposing captains in the closing day singles at the Seve Trophy at Druid's Glen in April.
Ballesteros will be hoping that his return to Ireland brings about a change in form: he has made just one cut all year and hasn't played since the Spanish Open two months ago.
Among the sponsor's invitations is American veteran Fred Funk. The 46-year-old, who has career earnings in excess of $9 million, embarks on a three-week run in Europe in the lead up to next month's Open Championship at Muirfield.