Franesco Molinari is hopeful that his recent hard work will start to bear fruit as he returns to the scene where he announced himself to the world nine years ago.
The Italian already had one win on the European Tour when he arrived at Sheshan International Golf Club in 2010 but his victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions raised his profile even further.
He held off then World Number One Lee Westwood for a one shot victory and since then has added Major Championship, Race to Dubai and Ryder Cup glory to his impressive CV.
The 36-year-old admits his game is not currently where he would like it to be but he is hopeful that the form that saw him make history in 2018 will soon return.
"It will be nice to finish the year strong," he said. "Obviously it's been a learning year, especially since April, obviously things have not gone how I was hoping.
"I'm just trying to learn from how it's been and get back where I was at the beginning of the season or last year.
"It's been a busy season and still a busy stretch coming these next five weeks, all big tournaments and it would be nice to finish the year well and build some momentum going into next season so that it doesn't feel like I have to start from scratch next year."
Molinari looked on course for a second Major triumph at the Masters Tournament in April before finding the water at the famous 12th, and two double bogeys on the back nine saw him finish two shots behind winner Tiger Woods.
"It's easy to see after that, the results haven't been quite the same," he said. "It's tough, like in any sport, I think when you lose a tournament or a game or something like that, it takes a toll mentally.
"I was coming obviously through a period, an extended period of a few months where things were most of the time going my way, so it just happened.
I'm just trying to learn from how it's been and get back where I was at the beginning of the season or last year
"Then I tried to kind of do the same things after that and keep pushing and keep improving day by day but I don't know, I think something obviously changed that week in a way.
"Since then, I've been trying to get back to where I was. I think simply my game hasn't been as good as it was at the beginning of the season or since May, June, last year. It's as simple as I need to hit the ball better and putt better and to do basic things better.
"Obviously with confidence everything comes a little bit easier and in golf, and I think in any sport, when you lose a tournament or a game, you lose some confidence and you just need to build it up again.
"Unfortunately I think it takes longer to build up the confidence than what it takes to lose it in circumstances like that."
