Lee Westwood will attempt to create European Tour history this week when he defends his title in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters at Barsebäck Golf and Country Club near Malmo.
The Englishman is one of three players to have won the event twice, the other two being Colin Montgomerie (1991 and 1999) and Jesper Parnevik (1995 and 1998), but nobody has triumphed on three occasions or in consecutive years.
Last year at Kungsängen near Stockholm, four years after his first win at Forsgärdens, Westwood gave a masterclass of front running, stamping his authority on the tournament with an opening eight under par round of 63 and he completed his wire-to-wire victory with a final round 71 for a three shot win over Michael Campbell.
The 28 year old from Worksop will face a high quality field in Sweden in his quest for further glory, all eager for a share of the 1.8 million euro prize fund as well as the vital Ryder Cup points which will be on offer.
In the line-up is the 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie as well as several of the recent winners on The European Tour International Schedule including Darren Clarke, Thomas Levet, Peter O'Malley, and Andrew Oldcorn.
As always there will be a strong Swedish representation on home territory with perhaps one of the warmest welcomes reserved for Niclas Fasth, who performed superbly to finish runner-up in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Other Swedes in action aside from Fasth and Parnevik will be Joakim Haeggman and Per-Ulrik Johansson, both Ryder Cup players, and Pierre Fulke, a long time leader of the 2001 Volvo Order of Merit and a player who will make his Ryder Cup debut at The De Vere Belfry in September.
It will be the fifth time the Volvo Scandinavian Masters has been played at Barsebäck and a measure of the course's standing can be ascertained with a glance at its previous winners, all of whom have been Ryder Cup players, Nick Faldo, Parnevik, Haeggman and Montgomerie.
