Ireland's Paul McGinley hopes his experience of the course at the Yalong Bay Golf Club will put him firmly in contention when the TCL Classic in Hainan begins tomorrow.

McGinley claimed a 16th-place finish at the event last year after suffering a heartbreaking play-off defeat to Paul Casey in 2005 when he roared back into contention with a stunning final round 63, which included a blistering run of five consecutive birdies on the back nine.

Casey birdied a 25-foot putt on the second hole of the sudden-death contest at the 18th to edge out McGinley after both men had finished the regulation 72 holes level on 22 under par.

"I'm looking forward to it; I've played well round here before. I finished 16th last year and second the year before so I know I can play well around here," McGinley said.

"I played well in the last round in 2005, I played well all week. A low scoring round like that this year would help you make a lot of ground.

"I haven't played a tournament for three weeks so I've just been doing a little bit of practice and getting used to the wind conditions, there is a bit more wind than I've been practising in."

The 40-year-old Dubliner is remaining cautious after course officials altered the picturesque Yalong Bay course by adding more substantial rough, as well as extra bunkers at the last.

McGinley, who has played in three successive winning Ryder Cup teams following last year's triumph at the K Club, insists it will be hard to achieve the 25 under par which saw Sweden's Johan Edfors win last year's crown on the island of Hainan.

"This year it's a different golf course to the one it has been on the previous years," he added.

"The rough has really tightened up and made a significant difference to the golf course, so it's certainly tougher y about two shots a round.

"It was a good course before with no rough, which made it easy, but now there is rough and the fairways are much more defined and that makes it at least two shots difference. That's eight shots overall, the leading score last year was 23 under. This year it's going to be closer to 13 or 14 under at least.

"In 2005 things went well, but Casey had a big advantage when we played the play-off hole as we played a hole that was suited to him. It's a different hole now. The fairways a lot tighter and there are a couple of new bunkers in there as well."

McGinley is joined in the field by Ryder Cup winning captain Ian Woosnam and Lee Westwood, his team-mate from the record-equalling victory over the United States last September.

China's Liang Wenchong, who won last week's Singapore Open with a play-off victory over Malaysia's Iain Steel to land his first co-sanctioned Asian and European Tour title, is also looking to impress the home crowd.

"It's a strong field," added McGinley. "There is so much respect now for these Chinese players. Look at the winner last week in Singapore; no one would have picked him as a winner. But all these guys can play so well now. The standard of the tours everywhere has gone up, not just on the main tours, the
other tours as well."