Luke Donald has welcomed the announcement of the Hero Cup as he plans for next year's Ryder Cup in Italy.
The race to represent Europe at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in the biennial showpiece begins at this week's BMW PGA Championship, as many of the world's best players assemble at Wentworth Club.
Donald, the European Captain for the match against the United States in 2023, will get a close look at some of the players hoping to make his team both this week and when Abu Dhabi Golf Club hosts the Hero Cup in January.
Two ten-man teams made up of players from Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe will battle it out in the Middle East.
The sides will be picked by Donald in an event rekindling the spirit of the Seve Trophy.
Ewen Ferguson, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour this year and runner-up at Made in HimmerLand last weekend, is one of the players likely to be in with a shout.
Donald said: "I talked to Ewen last week midway through the tournament and congratulated him on his good play and he obviously had another very, very solid week and had a good chance to win.
"Those are the types of players that I'll be looking at. Hopefully that will give him motivation to push on and get a sense of what team events are like and get his appetite up for The Ryder Cup, the main event, I suppose."
Italian Edoardo Molinari will be a Vice-Captain next September, where Donald will have six picks, increased from three at the last Ryder Cup.
He said: "Edoardo has been great so far and he was somewhat instrumental in coming up with the six picks and the way we went with the criteria.
"Statistically, it makes more sense. I didn't really see any downside with having more picks. I think form leading up to a Ryder Cup is key and that will give us an opportunity to see who is playing the best.
"A few of the picks will probably be self-explanatory and it's nice to have some other picks to kind of round out the team, create great partnerships, great foursomes and four-ball pairings that really work.
"You know, and also looking at players that suit well to that golf course at Marco Simone. Having six picks is nice. It gives me a lot of flexibility to really choose the strongest line-up coming nearer when the Ryder Cup starts."
Looking ahead to January's Hero Cup, which will consist of three sessions - four-balls, foursomes and singles - Donald will name the two captains in due course.
He said: "We are very close to finalising who the captains are going to be. I hope to be very involved with the picks. I'll be talking to the captains, who those will be, and myself and my Vice-Captains - I'm probably giving that away, but it probably will not be Thomas or Edoardo at this point.
"It's better for them to be their roles in what will be The Ryder Cup, but there will be another two guys that you're very familiar with, and I'm excited to - again, we are very close to finalising that and that will be announced very shortly."
Donald is looking forward to teeing it up on home soil on Thursday and hailed the importance of this week's tournament, the fourth Rolex Series event of the current season.
He said: "It's our flagship event, and it's a great, strong field. It's one to put on your resumé. It's extremely important."
