WHAT do you get if you bring together one of golf’s ultimate bad boys, a victorious Ryder Cup captain, half his team, the US Open champion and one of the finest golf courses in the world?

You get the 2011 Wales Open.

Thankfully, without even a hint of being ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’, the Wales Open clicks into gear this morning with the stage set for their finest competition to date.

John Daly provides the colour, Rhys Davies a legitimate chance of a home winner (a first home winner) and Colin Montgomerie and members of his team – like the king of Pebble Beach, Graeme McDowell – are returning to the scene of Europe’s greatest triumph last October.

With everyone seemingly agreed that for the first time the Euro-pean Tour is the strongest in the world, Welsh golf fans are in for a treat on the pristine Twenty Ten course, fully recovered from October thanks to a £500,000 facelift.

Davies leads the Welsh charge but others, like Blackwood’s Bradley Dredge and Newport’s Phillip Price, will also be sniffing that elusive Welsh win.

Record crowds are a real possibility with an unusually good weather forecast, and for the true lord of the Manor – Monty – the stage is well and truly set.

“After one of the best ever Ryder Cups... where everything was quite literally superb, this place is very special,” he explained.

“I think it’ll be a really good week. It will be an exciting week.

“I’m glad some of the team are playing – Miguel Jimenez, Peter Hanson, Ross Fisher and, of course, Graeme McDowell the defending champion. And, of course, Rhys Davies is back again after running Graeme so close last year. It should be a great week.”