Ross Fisher's Title Defence

Ross Fisher will attempt to become the first player since English compatriot Lee Westwood in 2000 to successfully defend The European Open title when he returns to The London Golf Club in Kent, England, to take on another world-class field from May 28-31, 2009. Fisher produced four sublime rounds of golf to hold off the challenge of Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell at the Ash venue last year and complete an emphatic seven stroke victory, despite contemplating withdrawing from the event at the beginning of the week due to fatigue. It was a majestic performance from Fisher, who began the tournament with a stunning course record 63 before finishing on 20 under par 268, and he is keen to repay the loyal home galleries with a strong defence of his crown. “It’s going to be tremendous to go back to The London Club to defend my title,” said Fisher, who is based at Wentworth Club, on the opposite side of London to the host venue. “Hopefully I can put in a strong performance and make a good defence. It would be great to follow in the footsteps of someone like Lee and successfully defend the title but to do so I will need to play really well because it will be another very strong field. I will have to be on top of my game. “The course suits my eye though. To shoot a 63 in the first round, having not seen the course before, shows that. I had a lot of family and friends there last year and I think quite a few more will be coming down again so I’m really looking forward to it.” Fisher, now 28, followed his European Open triumph by going on to finish a career best sixth on the 2008 money list, coming close to landing a third European Tour title when he, and Martin Kaymer, lost to Robert Karlsson in a three-man play-off in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in October. However, the winner of The 2007 KLM Open in the Netherlands, admitted he was looking forward to taking on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Heritage course at The London Golf Club again after playing some of the best golf of his career there last season. “There was a tremendous amount of support for me and to win in front of a home crowd was amazing - it was such a great week,” he said. “It’s always nice to do well in your home country. To win is always a massive thing on The European Tour but to win The European Open was even more satisfying because it was against such a star studded field and because of the manner in which I did it. It was a tremendous achievement. “To beat Sergio by seven shots is some achievement and I played some great golf that week. It was probably the closest to perfection I’ve been with my game. “It almost didn’t happen because I was quite tired at the start of the week and I was close to pulling out but with it being so close to home I decided not to. I went to Wimbledon on the Tuesday to watch the tennis and didn’t play a practice round so I didn’t expect much but I had a remarkable start with the course record and just went on from there. It sounds incredible when you’ve won by seven against such a strong field but I feel like I could have won by even more.” The 32nd edition of The European Open will be staged at The London Golf Club, close to Brands Hatch in North Kent, for the second consecutive year after successfully returning to England last year for the first time since 1994 following 13 years at The K Club in Ireland. The stature of the tournament is easily illustrated with a look at the Roll of Honour which features no less than eight Major Champions – Michael Campbell, Nick Faldo, Retief Goosen, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam – alongside eight time Harry Vardon Trophy winner and current European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie. With a prize fund of £2.4million, The European Open will be central in the quest to win, not only the Harry Vardon Trophy in 2009, but also of course the inaugural Race to Dubai, a thrilling journey which will conclude with the Dubai World Championship at the Earth Course, Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 19-22, 2009.