Colin Montgomerie is desperate to defend his Scandinavian Masters title after going back on his decision to miss the £1.3 million (€2.1 million) event in Stockholm.
The 39-year-old is chasing a fourth Scandinavian Masters title, the only one he currently holds, and continue a proud record of playing all four rounds in all 11 editions of the event.
Montgomerie, who took a week's holiday on a boat off the coast of Naples with his family last week, said: "I needed the holiday to recharge the batteries, they were pretty low. I thought about taking three weeks off but I felt if I was going to do well in the USPGA I have to play golf.
"I've never taken three weeks off and then gone into a major and did not want to do that, so I thought I would play here and try to defend.
"There is no better way to go into two large tournaments in America off the back of a win, so that's what I'm trying to do."
Irish representation in Stockholm is limited to the trio of tour new-boy Graeme McDowell, Ronan Rafferty, who showed some encouraging form in last week's Dutch Open after a long battle with injury, and Waterville's David Higgins.
