COLIN Montgomerie hopes his 'insider knowledge' of the course he designed at Riffa Views will help bring him further glory at next year's Volvo Golf Champions tournament, writes Stan Szecowka.
The victorious 2010 European Ryder Cup Captain has confirmed he will be in Bahrain to compete in the golfing spectacular from January 27-30 having worked on the major development of the Royal Golf Club which opened for play in 2009.
"I will feel very proud when Europe's best players go head-to-head over the Montgomerie Course. With European Golf Design and the vision of the Royal Golf Club, I think we have created a really superb Championship course and the fact that it has been selected to host such a major new European Tour event really underlines the success of work we have all done.
"With my Ryder Cup duties over, I am now looking forward for a strong start to the new season and hope that my unique insider knowledge of the course will stand me in good stead at the Volvo Golf Champions."
The Scottish professional golfer, often referred to by his nickname 'Monty' has had one of the finest careers in European Tour history, having won a record eight Order of Merit titles including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999, and 31 European tour victories, placing him fourth on the all-time list.
The Bahrain event will have an original and specifically-devised qualification criteria to ensure a field rich in quality consisting only of past winners of European Tour events.
From 2012, the Volvo Golf Champions, however, will be the curtain-raiser on the European Tour schedule with the field containing only winners from the previous season.
It will become the fourth venue in the so-called Desert Swing joining Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai.