Casey, ranked 26th in the Official World Golf Ranking following his superb performance at Augusta National, will be joined by three of the great champions of European golf who between them have won six Masters Tournaments and ten Major Championship titles in total – Nick Faldo of England, Scotland’s Sandy Lyle and Spain’s José Maria Olazábal.

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke and England’s Lee Westwood, two of the established stars of European golf currently third and fifth in The Ryder Cup World Points List, tee up alongside England’s Ian Poulter, runner up in The 2003 Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters. Ireland’s Paul McGinley, who holed the winning putt for the victorious European Ryder Cup Team at The De Vere Belfry in 2002, also hopes to be recovered from a recent knee operation in time to compete at the Marriott Forest of Arden.

Greg Owen of England will be defending the title following his maiden European Tour triumph 12 months ago while compatriot Brian Davis will also be hoping to build on his very impressive play over the last year.

Fresh from his victory in the Open de Sevilla, the big hitting Ricardo Gonzalez has confirmed his attendance along with fellow Argentinean’s Eduardo Romero and Angel Cabrera in a truly global field of players representing 23 counties including Carlsberg Malaysian Open winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand and New Zealand’s Michael Campbell.

For spectators interested in celebrity spotting there will be a great opportunity at the Pro-Am on May 5 where Rugby World Cup winners Sir Clive Woodward and Lawrence Dallaglio will tee up alongside rugby legend Jeremy Guscott and pop sensation Ronan Keating. For local football fans, Aston Villa manager David O’Leary is taking time out of his battle for Champions League qualification to swap studs for clubs for a day.

Andrew Chandler, Managing Director of tournament promoters ISM, said: “With the new date and BBC coverage of the event we always predicted a strong player field this year. It is looking good at the moment and hopefully we will have a few more interesting entries before the closing date on Thursday.”

 


Courtesy of www.europeantour.com