Justin Rose is determined to put his injury troubles behind him and mount a strong defence of his UBS Hong Kong Open title this week.
The Englishman shut down for two months after the Ryder Cup in an attempt to resolve his back issues and returned to action last week at the Hero World Challenge.
He was forced to withdraw after the first round with more back trouble and admits his preparation for this week at Hong Kong Golf Club has not been ideal as he defends the title he won in dramatic fashion in 2015.
The 2013 US Open champion has been working hard to get back to fitness, however, and is hopeful of making another tilt for the title in the Far East.
"I've done everything I can the last few days to do everything I can to defend here," he said.
"I'm making good progress. The journey over here seemed to go well and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
"I've been working hard to be honest with you for seven weeks. I've been really excited about what I've seen in my game in practice.
"Last week was a mishap for sure but I feel good about things in general. I feel optimistic about next year. Certainly I feel motivated and I feel hungry.
I know my game plan and I know my strategy. I have good memories on which to draw - Justin Rose
"In terms of this week, it's not ideal to come in here slightly undercooked preparation-wise but I'm hoping that the fact that I've been diligent and careful the last few days is going to allow me to be competitive for all four days.
"You never really forget how to compete. So once Thursday starts, hopefully the system gets up and running.
"This is a golf course I've played enough now to be able to see it blind this week, so to speak. I know my game plan and I know my strategy. I have good memories on which to draw."
Rose went toe-to-toe with Lucas Bjerregaard over the weekend in Fanling in 2015, eventually prevailing by one shot despite a bogey on the last with the next closest challengers five shots behind the Dane.
The short, narrow layout is something of a rarity in modern golf and Rose believes he has the game-plan to triumph again.
"This is really one of my favourite tournaments on the European Tour," he said. "It's certainly one of my favourite cities to visit.
"It's a course I haven't played particularly well until last year which gave me extra satisfaction in being able to win it.
"I had a great tussle with Lucas Bjerregaard really the whole of Sunday and we separated ourselves from the field, which is a fun match play sort of environment for us. It was just a really, really fun tournament to win.
"I think having missed the cut my previous try around here, it was like a nice bit of revenge. (Caddie) Fooch and I worked really hard with our game-plan and I think this is a course that does take some learning and we did a good job of that last year."
