Paul Broadhurst returns to European Tour duty after a welcome fortnight's break for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles today looking to consolidate his place in the Ryder Cup standings.
After spending two days in the company of Robert Karlsson when he finished runnerup to the Swede on his last appearance in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, Broadhurst will have another ideal chance to stake out the form of one of his main European rivals.
Karlsson, Paul McGinley and 2001 winner Paul Casey are also among those at the Johnnie Walker looking to firm up their claim for a place in Ian Woosnam's European team for The K Club in September.
But it is Broadhurst's pairing for the first two days with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn at Gleneagles that will most concern him in the short term.
Broadhurst, ranked 48th in the world, stands in ninth place to be one of Woosnam's ten automatic selections. That is more than 300,000 points ahead of Bjorn but, as a twice former Ryder Cup winner, the Dane's pedigree is unquestionable.
It will be no surprise if his form improves between now and the final 12 counting events until the team is announced after the BMW International Open in Munich in September.
The pair go off together from the tenth tee at 8.00 this morning in the company of in-form Yorkshireman Simon Dyson.
That is the earliest of today's tee-off times for the seven Midlanders involved.
Sam Walker (9.20) and Ryder Cup assistant captain Peter Baker (9.30) follow him off the tenth before Steve Webster is the first of the afternoon starters, teeing off at 12.30 from the first.
John Bickerton (2.10) and Tom Whitehouse (2.20) go off the first and Rob Rock is off the tenth at 2.10.
The centre of Scottish interest will be Colin Montgomerie, who will celebrate his 43rd birthday at the picturesque Perthshire course still wondering about what might have been at Winged Foot last week.
The nation held its breath as Montgomerie came agonisingly close to claiming his first major title only to three-putt the last and lose out by a shot to Australian Geoff Ogilvy.
Now Monty will turn his attention to the magnificent PGA Centenary Course - the venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup - looking to right one slight aberration.
No Scot has won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in its seven-year history and the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner heads a home contingent hoping to put that right.
Alongside Montgomerie at the forefront of the home challenge is 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie who, after his win at Carnoustie, followed that with success in front of his home fans at the 2001 Dunhill Links Championship.
Another player teeing up at Gleneagles following his tilt at the US Open will be England's Kenneth Ferrie who shared the third round lead at Winged Foot with Phil Mickelson before finishing in a tie for sixth.
But Ferrie won many friends with his performance in his first major on American soil and is certain to be full of confidence as he faces the challenge of the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.
Italy's Emanuele Canonica will be defending the title following his maiden European Tour triumph last summer.
To encourage the likes of Whitehouse and Rock, since the event became part of the European Tour international schedule in 1999, three other winners have also made this event their first victory - Warren Bennett (1999), Casey (2001) and Soren Kjeldsen (2003).
