Colin Montgomerie is relishing the prospect of winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and making the job of Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo even more interesting.
Montgomerie, who is preparing for the final event ahead of Europe's Team announcement, is “confident” of his chances of winning the tournament which has a first prize of €292,355.
But even if he grabs that on Sunday the highest that the 45 year old Scot - a star of the last eight matches against the Americans - can finish on the points table is 15th.
That would leave him needing one of two wild cards from Captain Faldo - and he is in good company in that queue.
Paul Casey and Darren Clarke - a winner on Sunday at The KLM Open in Holland - are among the favourites, while Ian Poulter is now in the mix because of his decision to stay in America this week.
Montgomerie, however, has a Cup pedigree that gives him reason to be confident. His record shows he has never been beaten in singles and is two wins away from passing Faldo as the event's record points-scorer.
Asked how confident he would be that the Ryder Cup would inspire him again, Montgomerie replied: “I think that's obvious.
“The Ryder Cup has brought the best out of me. Everybody tells me, 'Why don't you just play the way you in the Ryder Cup?'.
“As Tom Lehman said in America, ‘We'd be delighted if Monty is not playing’. I think that says a lot.
“To get selected I think I've got to show some form. I haven't become a bad player, I'm just sort of out of form and have been for the last month.
“But I feel very much more confident having had a week's holiday away from the game and after practising here last week.”
He added: “Hopefully I'm past the stage of justifying my Ryder Cup potential or otherwise.
“Everybody here - and I'm sure that I speak for the Captain as well - understands my love for The Ryder Cup and that's how I will be remembered, if you like.
For the task in hand on a course with five par-fives, Montgomerie has been striving for an extra 15 to 20 yards.
“I think I've got 15 of it,” he said. “I'm still five short, but we will see. That's what I was doing yesterday - trying to find launch angles and all kind of fancy technical stuff that I've never been into before.”
Clarke is looking to back up his Dutch win with more evidence of his worth to Faldo.
“I played well last week and I need to do the same again this week,” Clarke stated, before going out to play the course. “If that warrants me or merits me a pick, then fantastic.”
The Northern Irishman, who recently turned 40, feels he is playing almost as well as he ever has done. He said: “Pretty close to that I think. I won pretty comfortably last week. I was in control of what I was trying to do with the golf ball.
“My course management was very, very good last week, and you can only have good course management if you're hitting the ball pretty well, so the two go hand in hand. It's easy to say you're going to plot your a way around the golf course, but if you're not playing that well, you can't hit it to the places you're trying to hit it to.
“Last week and a few times recently, I've been able to hit it to the right side of the flag to do what I'm trying to do. So I feel pretty good with where my game is at right now.”
As for the last three places in the points table still up for grabs, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson are the three trying to hold off the challenges of Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.
For Dougherty, anything worse than second place and his chance of automatic selection will have gone.
For Fisher it is third and for Kaymer it is 26th, but the moment that Wilson makes the halfway cut the pocket calculators will be out again.
Rose, meanwhile, is bracing himself for a stern mental challenge at Gleneagles. He said: “I'm positive coming into this week and looking forward to the challenge that this golf course is going to present.
“I played sort of eight holes on Tuesday, and I think if the wind blows, it's certainly not easy out there. I think you have to be very patient on the greens. I think they are very, very soft, which will mean they are very, very bumpy in the afternoon, and same for everybody. And I think it will be a very good test mentally more than anything.”
