Defending champion Michael Campbell and two past winners, Thomas Björn and Jarrod Moseley, will return to the magnificent Vines Resort in Perth, Western Australia - an exotic location which no less an authority then Björn describes as "one of my favourites of the entire season" - to chase the Heineken Classic title.
A year ago, Campbell captured his second successive victory on the European Tour International Schedule when he followed his first title win in the Johnnie Walker Classic with an emphatic record-breaking success in the Heineken Classic.
He birdied four of the last five holes to record the lowest winning total of 268, 20 under par - six strokes ahead of 1998 champion Björn, who confirmed his affection for the Vines Resort by adding a runners-up placing to that title-winning effort two years earlier.
In between, the title was claimed by a son of Western Australia in Moseley, who had turned professional only 18 months previously and collected his maiden title on his first European Tour start.
The prospect of another visit to the Vines holds great appeal to Björn, who made his seasonal re-appearance in last week's Mercedes-Benz South African Open and claimed a share of thrid place following surgery to his foot during the brief winter break.
The Dane was forced reluctantly to withdraw from the WGC-EMC2 World Cup in Argentina and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to undergo surgery in his native country. Now, fitter but not yet quite 100 per cent, he can't wait to renew acquaintance with one of Australia's true gems.
He enthused: "It is one of my favourite venues of the entire season. It is worth travelling such a long distance to play a course of such quality. I fell in love with it immediately - and my record tends to underline that point!
"The par five 18th is undoubtedly the signature hole. It is everything a finishing hole should be with water down the left and a lake in front of the green. Anything can happen - a three-shot swing is possible and the crowds are always guaranteed plenty of excitement. I know that was the case when Ian Woosnam, Ernie Els, José Maria Olazábal, Padraig Harrington and Peter Baker were all in with a chance and I scraped home by one shot with a final 74."
Volvo Masters Champion Pierre Fulke, leader of the Volvo Order of Merit following his gallant runners-up finish to Steve Stricker in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Melbourne earlier this month, returns to Australia seeking to consolidate his position.
Also in the field are two great adversaries in England's Nick Faldo, winner of six Major championships, and Greg Norman, who triumphed in two Open Championships. Norman's fellow countryman, Wayne Grady - the 1990 US PGA Champion - has entered along with Australia's newest golfing hero, 20 year old Adam Scott, who won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg a fortnight ago but returned home early for treatment for a knee injury.
