Greg Owen, defending champion, will be trying to play his way up the Ryder Cup qualifying list, and Brian Davis will also be hoping to build on his very impressive play over the last 12 months to secure his place in the team in September.

Fresh from his victory in the Open de Sevilla, the big hitting Ricardo Gonzales from Corrientes has confirmed attendance along with fellow Argentinean World Cup Team hopefuls Eduardo Romero and Angel Cabrera in a truly global field of players representing 23 counties including Carlsberg Malaysian Open winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand and New Zealand's Michael Campbell.

Also on the entry list are 1999 Open Champion, the last British winner of the 'Claret Jug', Paul Lawrie and the 2002 Order of Merit Winner Retief Goosen, playing in his first European event of 2004 after a Spring on the PGA Tour. After his return to winning ways in Malaysia, Colin Montgomerie has had much success at the Forest of Arden and he will play along with the past three Volvo PGA Champions, Ignacio Garrido, Anders Hansen and Andrew Oldcorn.

There are established winners and 'young guns' - current OoM leader and twice winner in this season Miguel Angel Jiminez and Phillip Price, together with players such as Trevor Immelman, Mark Foster and Nick Dougherty, looking for his first European Tour win to confirm all the words written about his future.

Of Warwickshire interest will be four players - Jamie Elson (another player whose Amateur record and family name has produced many predictive features of great things), Tour winner Paul Broadhurst (recovering from an early season injury), and Steve Webster who needs some consistency in 2004 if he is to climb higher on the rankings.

The fourth Warwickshire based player is Tom Whitehouse who has made a few cuts in his first months on the European Tour and has all the attributes to make himself a long career at the highest level. Tom will be sure of lots of support as his home club is just a cople of miles from the Marriott Forest of Arden and its a course he knows well - look out for a good peformance from Tom.

For anyone interested in celebrity spotting there will be a great opportunity at the PRO-AM on May 5 where Rugby World Cup Winners Sir Clive Woodward and Lawrence Dallaglio will tee up alongside rugby legend Jeremy Guscott and pop sensation Ronan Keating. For local football fans, Aston Villa manager David O' Leary is taking time out of his battle for Champions League qualification to swap studs for clubs for a day.

Andrew "Chubby" Chandler, MD of tournament promoter ISM commented "with the new date and BBC coverage of the event we had always predicted a strong player field this year."

Remember to enter our Comeptition for a pair of season tickets for the British Masters and you can also find a feature article on the background to the success of the Marriott Forest of Arden in both becoming a very well established Tour venue and in doing so much for top amateur golf - as well as being one of the Midlands most popular hotels and places to play.