Casey - time to win again

Casey: winner in 2007

Arriving back here gives me a little bit more confidence, having won around this golf course. I think it's a golf course for me that fits my eye very well. It allows me to play to my strengths a little bit, use my length off the tee.

Paul Casey
Quotes of the week

Watch all four rounds of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship live on Sky Sports

Also see

• EuroTour Schedule
• World Rankings
• Golf live on Sky Sports

Englishman Paul Casey is in confident mood as he prepares to tee it up for the first time in 2009 at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

The 31-year-old Ryder Cup star, whose victory in this event two years ago was his last title, is feeling refreshed and ready to make his assault on the Race to Dubai.

"I'm very much looking forward to 2009," he said. "I feel like I have prepared well. I had some nice time off after the HSBC Champions, and then played Tiger's event (the Chevron World Challenge last month) and kind of used that to review aspects I needed to knuckle down hard on and worked very hard for the last two weeks before coming here.

"I feel good about the game and I'm looking forward to having a good 2009. I need to get back in the winners' circle. It's been a couple of years, actually, this event two years ago, so it's a good place to do that.

"Arriving back here gives me a little bit more confidence, having won around this golf course. I think it's a golf course for me that fits my eye very well. It allows me to play to my strengths a little bit, use my length off the tee.

"You get good feelings when you arrive on certain tee shots. You remember shots that you've hit and that's a good thing, to remember the good shots, anyway, and I've had plenty of them around this golf course."

Martin Kaymer is another contender who will tee off on Thursday, having won his first European Tour event there a year ago.

The 24-year-old German finished four shots ahead of Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood, and went on to enjoy a superb season, winning the BMW International and ending up eighth on the tour's Order of Merit.

He admits returning this week will bring back some fond memories.

Special

"That was my first win on the European Tour so that's always very special," said Kaymer, who narrowly missed out on a place in Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup team.

"It was a big event and I won the first tournament of the year so that gave me a lot of motivation for the rest of the season.

"The win over here was very important to me, especially early in my career. It showed that I could win a tournament.

"It was very special when I came to the golf club yesterday. It was nice to walk down the 18th. It was a very special moment for me last year."

Kaymer, who started the Race to Dubai by finishing joint 20th in the HSBC Champions in November, believes his success on The National Course last year will stand him in good stead this time around.

"I think the most important thing here last year was that you put the ball on the fairway all the time because the rough was quite thick," he added.

"My driving was very, very good last year and I made a few putts in the first three rounds."

Also in action in a start-studded field are world number two Sergio Garcia, Open and USPGA champion Padraig Harrington and Masters champion Trevor Immelman.