Of the strong brigade of European golfers now virtually domiciled in the United States, chasing a faster buck than they can ever espy on their native patch, ten of them have returned to play in the BMW PGA Championship which starts at Wentworth this morning.
They are welcome. The likes of Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen enhance the tournament and without them, would the German car manufacturer be even remotely interested in this venerable event?
Surely we cannot have forgotten Ben Curtis who won the Open Championship at Royal St George's two years ago. Welcome back Ben, and all that.
An outstanding tournament is in prospect and taking lead trumpet to that effect is Thomas Bjorn, whose views on the golf scene have never been compromised and who now, following his strident victory in the British Masters at the Forest of Arden nine days ago, is not averse to the pungent thought or two.
"This," said Thomas, "is not a major championship. But it's the biggest tournament on the European Tour. The players here are European Tour players - they are not brought in from somewhere else.
"That's what this is all about. There are a couple of European guys that you would say are missing this week (no clues offered). But would you consider them European Tour players when they don't want to play in this championship?"
There followed what came close to a diatribe. Thomas Bjorn, whatever his political colours, is a Europhile to the tips of his spikes. It's any player's right, he conceded, to do whatever he saw best for his career.
"You can't, the Tour can't and the players can't pressurise them to play. That's their decision.
"But this Tour is here; we will stick together as a Tour and you are either part of it or you are not.
"If you are part of it you come here and play. If you don't show any interest, well . . . don't expect the Tour and the rest of the players on this Tour to show any interest in them.
"It's almost like some players feel like that when they come back from America, they need to be treated as even bigger stars than some on this Tour. And that's not the case.
"The case is that a player who plays on this Tour is a player who needs to be looked after by this Tour.
"The guys that come back every blue moon and think they can start changing the Tour around, well . . . we don't need them. "
It was some speech and out of it came the thought that if ever there was a European Ryder Cup captain in the making, he had just stood up and shouted his credentials.
Bjorn was on a quadrupledecker soap box when he said this apropos the Ryder Cup: "The Ryder Cup is about what
this Tour has done for the Ryder Cup; don't expect any favours when it comes to the Ryder Cup if you can't come back once every year and play in this golf tournament because this is our biggest golf tournament."
Of those who are massed to challenge Els, Goosen and the other migrant stars, Lee Westwood has caught the local fancy. He came through the field strongly in the Irish Open at the weekend and has played some pretty strident golf over Wentworth's punishing West Course over the years.
The greens, beautifully presented as they always are at Wentworth, are abundantly grassed but are close to seeding. Which makes deadweight putting something of a problem. "It (the ball) does wander around a bit but the course is in as good a condition as I've ever seen it."
A great field, was Westwood's final thought on the event. "It's right where it should be."
And while Bjorn talks of those who should be at Wentworth, Westwood relishes the quality of the entry, there is another factor that makes this tournament more than just a parade of millionaire aeroplane owners.
It's not A PGA Championship. It's THE PGA Championship. It's for all those professionals from the Association's outermost regions, who slog their way through the local order of merit events in the hope of one (or two . . . or maybe four) days in the limelight.
There have been some unlikely winners in recent years (Andrew Oldcorn, Scott Drummond to name just two) and what they achieve serves as a slogan for the lesser lights coming in their wake.
The Midlands are forcibly represented by Tour stars like Steve Webster and Paul Broadhurst.
But cast a glance down the scores tomorrow and look for Daren Prosser, of Dudley - now of Shifnal - who will be trying as hard as anybody on the card.
