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Flamboyant Spaniard JosŽ Mar’a Olaz‡bal, tipped to be named as the new European Ryder Cup Captain, is the latest star to announce an appearance at this month's major golfing extravaganza in Bahrain.
American Todd Hamilton, winner of the 2004 Open Championship, will also be aiming to make his mark at the inaugural Volvo Golf Champions event at the Royal Golf Club.
The European Tour is holding a media conference about the Ryder Cup on January 18, the day the captaincy is being discussed by its tournament committee.
Olaz‡bal has played in seven Ryder Cups and been assistant captain in two. His challenge will be to lead Europe to back-to-back triumphs over America when the two sides meet again at Medinah, Chicago, in 2012.
The 44-year-old will succeed Colin Montgomerie, designer of the Royal Golf Club course, whose European side triumphed at Celtic Manor last September, completing a 14 1/2 -13 1/2 victory.
In the immediate aftermath of the match Montgomerie announced that he would not be interested in retaining the captaincy and threw his support behind the fellow veteran.
Olaz‡bal and Hamilton are among a raft of world-class players to have signed on the line for the Volvo Golf Champions event which takes place from January 27-30.
Following fast in the slipstream of the season-opening Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the kingdom's latest addition to its growing international events portfolio looks set for a flying start as the eyes of the world focus on the challenge.
Per Ericsson, president, Volvo Event Management - Golf, today commended the kingdom for its wholehearted support, saying: "Ever since I first set foot in Bahrain over a year ago, I was struck by the 'can-do' attitude and the support of Bahrain Economic Development Board and our various other partners has been instrumental in us getting to the stage we are at today with a world class field committed to a first class venue here in a truly outstanding destination.
"Professional golf may be relatively new to Bahrain, but so was Formula 1 back in 2004 and the community has fully supported stars as Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher."
He added that golfing events such as the one planned are key components in driving economic growth and this month's event will attract global coverage and help Bahrain reach at least 150 countries and over half-a-billion people. Official research shows that the gross media value alone of a leading European Tour event is in excess of $50million, around BD19million.
He added: "This year's special edition of the Volvo Golf Champions is a celebration of golf, exclusively for previous winners on the European Tour, but next year, it will take on even greater significance, starting the 2012 European Tour in the same way as the Bahrain Grand Prix gets the Formula 1 season underway, with winners from this season exclusively eligible to play."
The Royal Golf Club is also gearing-up for its first European Tour showpiece. General Manager Susan Stevenson said: "On the Montgomerie Course, we have successfully completed the re-seeding exercise and have had golf course 'shaper' Trevor Dormer working with our own director of agronomy Mark Hooker and his team, putting the finishing touches to a course that will be in perfect condition for our big European Tour debut.
"Off the course, we have been greatly encouraged by the numbers of requests to become volunteers."
Bahrain Sports TV will be covering the event live on all four days. A roadshow to promote the event will be taking place at Almoayyed Tower today, the World Trade Centre next Monday and Bahrain Financial Harbour on Tuesday from noon to 2pm, where a practice putting green will be located, with one of the professionals from the Royal Golf Club on hand to help visitors capture the art of putting.
An extended promotional campaign will also take at Bahrain City Centre from January 16- 23 from 10am to 10pm, when visitors to the mall will be able to discover detailed information about the tournament and win valuable tickets by trying to hole-in-one on the 15m long putting green.
