Ireland hosts the Smurfit European Open at the K Club, Dublin, this week and the tournament, which begins on Thursday, has drawn the past two US Open champions.
Michael Campbell, fresh from his triumph at Pinehurst, lines up alongside Retief Goosen, last year’s US Open winner and also the defending champion here.
The parallels don’t stop there, because Campbell also has a European Open title to his name. He won in 2002.
Goosen, best at 8-1 favourite with Ladbrokes, comes here in vastly different circumstances to a year ago. Then he arrived having won a US Open, this time he has just lost one.
After leading the US Open into the final round, a catastrophic collapse opened the door for Campbell to hold off Tiger Woods down the home straight.
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Goosen’s price assumes he has got over that experience, although even then he is a better bet than the mercurial Campbell (25-1 with Stan James).
Padraig Harrington comes here after a remarkable win in the Barclays Classic in New York at the weekend, when a 65-foot putt at the last last stole the title from Jim Furyk. Harrington is certainly capable but at 10-1 with Ladbrokes makes only limited appeal.
Darren Clarke plays for the first time since withdrawing from the BMW Championship last month to be with his wife in her struggle against cancer. Clarke (generally 16-1) won here in 2001 but his game remains unpredictable.
The answer may be another course specialist, Angel Cabrera. He won the BMW Championship at Wentworth recently and has a cracking record here, with four top-ten finishes in the past five years.
He was one shot second to Lee Westwood (generally 16-1) in 2000, and at 16-1 with Bet365 has sound prospects of going one better now.