Major winner Trevor Immelman believes he can still conjure a masterful performance when the King’s Cup presented by PTT Group gets underway at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club on Thursday.
The South African, who is making his appearance in Thailand since 2004, is also relishing the challenge of coming up against some of the best players from the Asian Tour, including defending champion Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, in the tournament which is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour.
He said: “We’ve got a nice field assembled here. It’s great the Asian Tour and European Tour are getting together, in a partnership for an event like this.
“Life has changed tremendously since 2004 when I first started coming over here. It has been a tough run but I feel like I’m fit and ready to go.”
Immelman is hoping to rediscover the heights of his career when he reached his highest career ranking of 12th on the official world golf rankings in 2007 and won the Masters Tournament in 2008.
He has been dogged by injuries and health scares throughout his career. A left wrist injury curtailed the 36-year-old’s form, leaving him still in search for his first professional since 2013 where he won on the Web.com Tour.
“Obviously I haven’t been playing to the standard that I would like,” he said. “Not through the lack of effort as I’ve been working very hard. I would like to improve and give myself chances to win tournaments.
“So hopefully this can be the week I can put things together and put together some good scores.”
Johan Edfors, a three-time winner on the European Tour, is also seeking to make his return to the winner’s circle after staying injury-free since the start of the year.
The Swede’s last victory came in 2014 on the European Challenge Tour but he is confident of posting a strong result with his current form.
“I haven’t play many tournaments this year but the game is starting to come around so I’m hoping for a fresh start this week.
“I’ve been injury-free since the start of the year and I’ve been able to practise more. The competition will be tough but I know if I play my best, I’ll be up there.”
Thailand’s Arnond Vongvanij is also hoping to repeat his 2012 success where he lifted his maiden Asian Tour title at the King’s Cup.
Victory was especially sweet for the 27-year-old as he fended off the challenges from the region’s heavyweights including Singapore’s Mardan Mamat and Thaworn to claim his breakthrough during his rookie season on the Asian Tour.
He said: “I’m very excited about this week. I’ve been working a lot on my swing change and it’s finally coming along really nicely.
“So this is the perfect opportunity for me to test it out and see where my hard work gets me.”
For the first time in the history of the King’s Cup, the tournament will be sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour and local viewers will get the chance to catch all four days of live action on the TrueVisions network in Thailand from July 28-31.
The field for the King’s Cup will comprise of 90 players from the Asian Tour, 25 from The European Tour, 25 from Thailand PGA and 16 invite spots. Prize money earned from the tournament will count towards the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit and also on the Race to Dubai ranking on The European Tour.
