Chris Wood will return to defend his Lyoness Open powered by Sporthilfe Cashback Card title in confident mood after climbing to a career-best 22nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, courtesy of his BMW PGA Championship victory last week.
The Englishman was the toast of the European Tour at Wentworth Club after he earned a magnificent home triumph, his first trophy since winning by two shots at Diamond Country Club last year.
Wood could therefore not be in better form as he returns for his title defence in Austria, but to do so successfully he will have to overcome a field which includes the home favourite and 2012 champion Bernd Wiesberger.
The 30 year old has been on steady form this year, missing just one cut in 11 appearances on the European Tour, but has yet to hit the kind of form which has earned him three titles thus far.
He will be hoping that the buzz of playing in front of the home fans will give his season a fillip as he searches for a first win since overcoming James Morrison by three shots at last year’s Alstom Open de France.
Wood and Wiesberger are two of eight players who will be using this event as a warm-up for the following week’s US Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club.
Joining them on the journey from Austria to the USA will be Matthew Baldwin, Grégory Bourdy, Soren Hansen, Lee Slattery, Mikael Lundberg and Gary Stal.
YE Yang, the 2009 US PGA Champion, will make his debut at Diamond Country Club and will be confident of contending for a first European Tour title since winning the 2010 Volvo China Open, the Korean having shared the lead at Wentworth last week before falling back to a share of 12th spot.
Former Ryder Cup players in the field include Denmark’s Thomas Bjørn – who was last week named as an Assistant Captain to Darren Clarke for this year’s edition at Hazeltine – his countryman Hansen, Stephen Gallacher of Scotland and Englishman Oliver Wilson.
Meanwhile, Wood and Wiesberger are joined by fellow former Lyoness Open Champions José Manuel Lara of Spain, Dutchman Joost Luiten, Lundberg of Sweden, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Australian Richard Green.
South African Haydn Porteous, winner already on tour at January’s Joburg Open, is also present, as is EurAsia Cup star Kristoffer Broberg, who clinched a top ten in Austria last year before going on to claim a maiden European Tour title at the BMW Masters in November.
