Defending champion Jamie Donaldson is confident that he is in the sort of form that can enable him to successfully defend his Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship this week.
The Welshman held off Justin Rose and Thorbjørn Olesen 12 months ago to take his second European Tour title.
And having had four top-ten finishes in his last six European Tour events - including being a runner-up in South Africa and Turkey - the 38 year old is confident of challenging again in the first event of the Desert swing.
Speaking of his win last year, Donaldson said: “I played fantastic coming in and then got off to a good start.
“Picked up the win on what is a very, very stern test of golf. I was ecstatic obviously with the win, and here we are 12 months later back here. It just seems to go so quick.
“The course is playing similar to last year with the added difficulty of the rough being a bit thicker, so I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. Got a great draw tomorrow, and yeah, looking forward to teeing off in the morning.
“My game is in good shape and I have been playing well the last five, six tournaments.”
Another player familiar with what it takes to succeed at Abu Dhabi Golf Club is Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who triumphed here in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
The Ryder Cup star has not won on The European Tour in the last two seasons, but hopes to put that right in 2014, starting at one of his favourite venues.
“I've started here every year since I've been on Tour since 2007,” said Kaymer. “I've been very successful. This is always a place where I like to come.
“Obviously I've won here three times but it doesn't mean that I play well every year or that I have a big advantage.
“Everybody has played the golf course as much as I have. I made a few more birdies and less bogeys than others, but it doesn't mean that's a big advantage.
“I feel comfortable here, that's for sure, but every year is a new start, and there are new players on Tour that came from the Challenge Tour.
“The expectation is not like, come here, if I don't win, it's kind of like a disappointing start - that's not the case.
“There's more competition, but it's in general, I really enjoy coming here overall; the people, the golf course, the food, the hotel, everything feels really comfortable to me.”
