Ronan Rafferty's posterior has, for the past eight years, found a comfortable place in one television studio or another. In truth, the one-time European number one probably thought his days of competing on tour were over, and so when an email popped up on his computer screen six weeks ago inviting him as a past champion to play in this year's Volvo Masters, he was sure it was some friend or other pulling his leg.

But it was no joke, and Rafferty - who last played a tour event, the Dutch Open, in 2003 - thought long and hard before accepting the invitation, extended to past winners to honour Volvo's 20th anniversary of sponsorship.

Rafferty was actually in the United States, working for Setanta Sports on the US Tour's Fedex Cup series, when the invitation landed and, pondering whether to accept it, the 43-year-old Ulsterman played a couple of rounds around the Hamptons on Long Island with golf coach Alan White, a Scot.

"Your game is half good and half bad . . . I'll work with you, and hopefully we can sort it out," was the carrot offered by White. Rafferty decided to go for it.

Yet, the 1989 Order of Merit winner - he was the last Irishman to achieve the feat before Pádraig Harrington emulated him a year ago - is under no illusion about what lies ahead over the four days of the tournament, which starts tomorrow. He will be first man out. Alone.

"This is not my day job any more. I'm under no pretence that I'm going to finish anywhere bar 55th," he said. There are 55 players in the field.

For Rafferty, the return to Valderrama evokes fond memories. When he won the Volvo Masters in 1989, he did so by outduelling José María Olazábal and major winners Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle down the stretch.

"You know, when people ask you what you won, you think, 'I won at Royal Melbourne, I won at Kingston Heath, I won at Valderrama.' I won at some decent venues . . . the Order of Merit was just the effect of playing well for the entire year.

"I was here and doing well to win the tournament, and that's what I was really concentrating on. I was proud of myself. I won the Volvo Masters on what was probably the hardest course on tour, playing with Olazábal in the last group. There was literally a couple of thousand between us, we were one and two on the Order of Merit, and we were playing together in the last round of the last event."

If it seemed at the end of 1989 that the golfing world would be his oyster, it didn't exactly turn out that way. A series of injuries, necessitating two operations and two lengthy periods away from playing, meant Rafferty never reached higher goals.

He got injured in 1997 and played only sporadically in 1998 and not at all in 1999. When he returned to the circuit in 2000, it was to a practice range where the players were younger and he did not know half of them.

"I found guys half my age and able to hit the ball 300 yards . . . there was a big leap in technology and I was left behind. I came back and it was really difficult.

"When I had my second surgery and a further nine months out, I came back and the game had passed me by. There was a huge leap in technology (in that time) and I wasn't involved in it."

It was during those periods of inactivity, after the two operations, that he first dabbled in television commentary.

For someone known to have his moments with the media, the transition was remarkably seamless. He was with Sky Sports for seven years before moving to Setanta earlier this year after the fledgling but ambitious satellite company won the rights to the PGA Tour in the States.

It is now his main occupation, though he still works at course design as well.

The return to competition, courtesy of the sponsor's invite, has brought a pep back to Rafferty's step, though he would have appreciated more time.

"I've undergone a crash course, going from playing zero golf to playing twice a week. Basically all I've tried to do is to put in as much practice as I could, but it's been difficult.

"At Gleneagles, you're hitting range balls off mats, or you're going to a club where you can hit no more than seven-iron on the practice ground. But I've certainly hit more golf balls in the last month that I've hit in the last four years."

He intends to play with a smile on his face, and with no great expectations. In fact, when he met the tournament director, David Garland, yesterday, he enquired if 8.20am was the first-tee time for each of the four days. "It is," replied Garland. "I'll see you then," replied Rafferty.