Ross Fisher Hopes to Make History

Ross Fisher will be aiming to become the first player since English compatriot Lee Westwood nine years ago to successfully defend The European Open title when the tournament returns to The London Golf Club in Kent from May 28 to -31.

Fisher held off the challenge of Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell at the Ash venue last year and completed an emphatic seven stroke victory, despite contemplating withdrawing from the event at the beginning of the week due to fatigue.

Fisher, who uses aTitleist 905R driver, Titleist 659MB irons and Titleist Pro V1x balls, 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 golf clubs to defend my title," said Fisher, who is based at Wentworth Club.

"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.

"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 with my golf equipment 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."

Fisher followed his European Open title by finishing sixth on 2008 money list and came close to landing another title when he was involved in a three-man play-off in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in October.

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.