Singapore: Danthai Boonma is looking forward to another good result at the Singapore Open, which tees off tomorrow.
The Thai returns to the Lion City, which has brought him much success over the years.
He earned his Asian Tour breakthrough in Singapore in 2015 and was also rewarded with a ticket to the British Open after finishing tied for fourth at the Singapore Open last year.
The season-opening event for the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) is being held at the Sentosa Golf Club and features England's Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick and Spain's Sergio Garcia.
Danthai said: "I like this golf course a lot and I like Singapore too. I'm hoping to repeat what I've done last year and maybe do even better. I know what is needed to correct my flaws and my game in general.
"Putting will be the key for me this week and I've been working hard on that. My goal for this year is to finish inside the top-10 on the Asian Tour Order of Merit."
Casey knows he has to overcome the strong Asian challenge to stand a chance of winning the Singapore Open.
The world No.24 is the highest ranked player in the 156-man field and knows that Asia's best players will pose a significant threat to his bid of winning the tournament.
The 41-year-old Englishman has 18 professional victories worldwide but having witnessed the rise in Asian golf over the last decade, he is under no illusion that it will be a stroll in the park at this week's US$1 million event.
"I believe there has been a constant kind of curve on the way up in terms of how many guys we see playing world class golf from Asia now," he said. "We know how tough this is going to be this week."
Echoing Casey's remarks, defending champion Garcia said: "Every year, you see more and more great Asian players coming out. Youngsters are coming out to play at the highest level and they're doing well," Garcia said.
"I think probably one of the biggest ones right now is Li Haotong [of China]. There's a good group of young Asian players out there, such as Hideki [Matsuyama] and some Koreans. So you can see that the level is growing every year."
Fitzpatrick is hoping to shine in his maiden appearance at the Singapore Open. He first came to Singapore as a nine-year-old on a family holiday and is back after more than a decade, hoping to challenge for his first win on Asian soil.