Edoardo Molinari is confident of landing his first win of the season on home soil at the BMW Italian Open.
The Omega Mission Hills World Cup winner, who lives in Turin and is a keen Juventus supporter, is the highest ranked player in the field at Royal Park I Roveri.
"This week I am playing at home and it is a great feeling. Hopefully I can play well," said the World Number 36.
"It is a great course. The conditions hopefully will be acceptable - the greens drain very well."
Molinari's victory in China along with brother Francesco has sparked a huge interest in golf in Italy, and that is set to continue this week with the arrival of The European Tour and professional debut of 17 year old Matteo Manassero.
"Italian golf is in a great moment," added Molinari. "Francesco and myself winning the World Cup I think was a turning point for Italian golf and Matteo coming through as well, it is a very exciting time and hopefully we can keep it going over the next few months to make golf grow bigger and bigger."
One person not surprised to see a strong Italian presence on The Race to Dubai this year is Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie.
The Scot will play with Manassero and Trophee Hassan II winner Rhys Davies over the first two rounds, and revealed that the Molinari brothers registered on his Ryder Cup radar some time ago.
"The World Cup victory was incredible at the end of last year in China," said Montgomerie. "My coach for a long time in London, Denis Pugh, has said watch these Molinari brothers as they will be the first European brothers to play in The Ryder Cup on the same team.
"His prophecy is becoming more realistic every week. They are both very, very strong. I am glad the older brother, Edoardo, has chosen to play here.
"If they continue in their confident and consistent way they have every opportunity and it would be fantastic to have them on the team. I wish them well.
"There is always a Molinari on the leaderboard. They are both comfortably in the top 50 in the world so there are very few weaknesses. Their consistency is their strength.
"They are very good ball strikers and both exceptional around the greens. For Edoardo to hole the putts at Bay Hill on the 16th and 17th and almost the 18th to finish second they are proving they are world players now."
Montgomerie also praised this weeks sponsors BMW, who recently announced an extension their long-running partnership with The European Tour in Germany at the BMW International Open.
"These are very exciting times for European golf and with BMW's support we are very fortunate," added the 46 year old.
"We are very pleased with the announcement that BMW will continue to support the BMW International Open again for the next four years through 2014 which is fantastic from BMW, to put their sponsorship money and advertising into golf. We know there are other sports that they are involved with and could do and we are very fortunate in golf to have their support."
