Darren Clarke goes for a third successive English Open title at the Forest of Arden today sparing a thought for one of his fellow competitors.
Not Colin Montgomerie, who had to pull out of the curtain-raising pro-am because of a bad back. And not stablemate Lee Westwood, who after becoming European number one last season is still seeking his first win of this year.
The score that Clarke will be keen to see - as indeed Westwood will - is that of 24year-old South African Omar Sandys, who thanks in part to their generosity is making his European tour debut.
Sandys, who had never owned a new set of clubs until Clarke gave him one of his spares and some clothes last week, could not be more grateful.
"This is the biggest opportunity of my life and I just want to say thank you," said Sandys. "I will try my best and if I do that I will get satisfaction and I hope the guys who brought me over will get satisfaction."
Clarke, Westwood and their manager Andrew Chandler have funded his trip along with Clarke's South African backers Dimension Data and this week's tournament sponsors did the rest by handing him one of their allocation of invitations to the £800,000 event.
Clarke said after a practice round together: "If he keeps playing the same he will do just fine."
The Ulsterman is pleased with his own form a week before the US Open, while Westwood is looking to build on his eighth-place finish in the British Masters last week before heading for Tulsa.
Montgomerie, meanwhile, is hoping that a day's rest will cure a back strain probably caused by the hours he has spent crouched over on the practice green trying to sort out his putting.
The Forest of Arden is his happiest hunting grounds after Wentworth. He has won an English Open and a British Masters on the course, been second in both as well and has twice managed the course record of 63.
If there is to be another "home" winner then Justin Rose, of course, would love it to be him - especially with his grandparents having just arrived from South Africa for the summer.
But what has to mean more than that to the 20-year-old is the presence of his father Ken, back with him on the practice range and fairways after undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia.
"It was just like the old days when we worked together on my game again yesterday," said Rose. "He had been watching from the car, but being right alongside me he was able to spot that my alignment was not very good."
Rose's professional career, remember, had begun with 21 successive missed cuts - virtually every one of them written about because of the name he made for himself by finishing fourth as a 17-year-old amateur at the 1998 Open at Birkdale.
But things have come good since. In January he had two second place finishes in South Africa - the country where he was born - and he currently stands 16th on the Order of Merit and 21st in the Ryder Cup table.
