Colin Montgomerie returns to the scene of his first European Tour victory determined to do watching Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance a major favour.
Montgomerie claimed his maiden tournament win in the Portuguese Open at Quinta do Lago 12 years ago by 11 shots, a margin that has only been bettered once on tour by Tiger Woods at the US Open last year.
Another 29 victories worldwide and seven consecutive years as European number one have followed but the 37-year-old Scot is as committed as ever to picking up another trophy come Sunday evening.
And unlikely as it may seem the world number five is in need of picking up some Ryder Cup points to make sure of his place in Torrance's 12-man team to face the United States at The Belfry in September.
"I'm 10th in the Ryder Cup list and I'm sure Sam doesn't want to waste a pick on myself and I don't want to have that on my record either," said Montgomerie.
"This would be very, very special to win here again, to come back to the site of your first victory 12 years on with so much happening in those 12 years. It would be amazing," he added.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Montgomerie is Padraig Harrington, just edged out by Vijay Singh in a play-off in Malaysia and a player very much in the ascendency.
Harrington played far better than the Scot in the US after that near miss and a couple of days fine-tuning with his coach, Bob Torrance (father of Sam), is sure to put him spot on for this test.
Harrington, who took last week off after spending the previous month playing in the US, heads a strong Irish contingent in the Algarve where he is joined by Paul McGinley, Des Smyth, Ronan Rafferty, David Higgins, Eamonn Darcy and Philip Walton. Darcy and Walton are playing on sponsor's invites.
Montgomerie's compatriot Gary Orr returns to defend the title he won at Penina 12 months ago by making an eagle three on the closing hole to hold off the challenge of Wales' Phil Price and claim his first tour title.
Also in the field are former Open champion Paul Lawrie, England's Ian Poulter, Ryder Cup skipper Torrance and 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam.
Meanwhile Roger Chapman will become the sixth European Tour member to compete in 500 or more tournaments when he tees off this afternoon, following in the footsteps of Torrance, Darcy, Smyth, Carl Mason and Mark James.