The 15th Desert Classic will be staged over the stunning Majlis Course, the venue where Montgomerie lifted the title back in 1996.

And the man who set an unprecedented record of seven straight Order of Merits wins between 1993-1999 has a definite aim for the season ahead.

'My goal is to get back in the top ten in the world,' said Montgomerie. 'Whether that happens this year or takes a couple of years we'll see but that's my goal. I spent about 12 years in that top ten and fell out of it two years ago.

'I intend to get back there and to do that, I have to win tournaments and do well. But my goal now is a world goal, a world ranking goal.'

Montgomerie spent the winter in Dubai playing on the venue that bears his name - The Montgomerie Dubai - after signing up with Japanese club manufacturer Yonex.

'We spent two weeks in Dubai over Christmas and New Year, while a week on either side I was just testing equipment out and trying to get ready,' he added.

Runnerup in the US Opens in both 1994 and 1997 as well as in the 1995 US PGA, Montgomerie has certainly gone close to winning an elusive first Major.

His European record is second to none but while others may seem more preoccupied with his lack of success in the 'big ones', for Montgomerie it seems less of a burden as he concentrates more on his family and his course-building interests.

One of the courses is The Montgomerie Dubai and the 40-year-old Scot is impressed with how it has developed. 'I was surprised how quickly it had matured but they have heat and water there so things do grow!' he said.

'I was delighted to see it as they've made a couple of changes I wanted to make. Hopefully I'll go over there early before the Dubai Desert Classic and have a look at it again. It is great to have my name on a course though and have people play it and give me feedback.'

Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the Dubai Desert Classic executive committee, welcomes Montgomerie's entry and is looking ahead to even more stars signing up.

'The closing date for entries is not until the middle of February so we anticipate a great deal more big names,' he said.

'The European Tour is currently over in Asia and Australia and we expect many of the rising stars of the game to fly to Dubai to prepare for the Classic over the coming few weeks.'