Scotland's Dean Robertson believes he is ready to justify his position as one of the pre-tournament favourites in the Madeira Island Open.

Robertson has won just one title on the European Tour - the 1999 Italian Open - and lies 109th in the world rankings.

But the 30-year-old Teesside-based player believes he has taken his game to another level.

Robertson practised with Bjorn for a week in Dubai before the Dane's sensational victory over Tiger Woods in the Desert Classic, and was encouraged to find his game compared favourably with the former Ryder Cup player.

"I feel my game has moved on to a new level," said Robertson, who finished joint fourth in Qatar last week and fourth on this course in 1995 in his maiden European Tour event.

"I spent a week before Dubai practising with Thomas Bjorn every day and gained a lot from that.

"My game was almost right up there with him but, as well as I was playing in practice he was playing better, and it was a great sobering thing because it means you can't think `I've cracked it now'.

"I am very friendly with Gary Orr and I was left trailing the last two years, but that's just a bigger incentive to me to push harder.

"He's talking about taking weeks off to prepare for certain events and winning tournaments and qualifying for the Ryder Cup, and I want a bit of that as well."

Orr and Sweden's Jarmo Sandelin are the only players in the world's top 100 playing this week (57th and 100th respectively), while Sweden's Niclas Fasth defends the title he won in style last year.