Robert Hogan is confident the Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Welsh Open Young PGA Professional Championship at the end of the month will be worth the long trip from Ireland.
The 22-year-old will be making the five-hour journey from Bray in County Wicklow to Anglesey by car and ferry but he is optimistic he will not be returning empty-handed.
"I'm feeling like I can win it actually," said Hogan, an assistant professional at Bray Golf Club.
"I know that's a bold statement but I'm feeling really confident and I've been putting in a lot of work recently.
"It's all about confidence in this game. I've worked hard on my putting in particular and have been practising a lot for this competition."
Hogan may have reason to be confident having picked up some inside information on how the course plays.
"I met a guy over here in Ireland who, by coincidence, used to play at Bull Bay a lot so he gave me some good tips," he said.
"Other than that I've just been looking at the website and hopefully I'll get a practice round in before the tournament starts."
This season the event's prize money has almost doubled to £12,500 which has attracted a strong field, but Hogan is motivated to clinch the title Cardiff's Adam Constable has won for the last two years.
"It's a long trip over from Ireland and I have to fund everything myself so it would be nice to go back with something and recoup some of the costs with a bit of prize money," Hogan added.
The two other Irish players are far less bullish about their chances and are making the trip for the experience rather than aspirations of victory.
Dundalk's Conor Thornton and Carr Golf Services' David Mooney, both 20, will be playing their first tournament abroad and are rookies on the PGA circuit.
"I'm not really sure how I'm going to do," said Thornton. "I'm just going over there for the experience more than anything else as it's my first tournament abroad and my first full season on the tour.
"My game's coming together slowly but whether it clicks into place in time for the tournament is another matter. I'll just have to wait and see."
Mooney is slightly more optimistic about his chances and is gunning to beat his two compatriots.
"It's all about getting experience at the moment but I'd say a top-five finish is a realistic aim," he said.
"I've been training a lot over the last couple of weeks and I'm feeling good.
"I don't really know the other two Irish lads that well but I'm sure we'll have our own competition on the side to see who wins the Irish bragging rights."
The tournament is the first on the national schedule and benefits from the support of Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Ltd.
Rob Holt, chief executive of Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Ltd, said, "This tournament is the first event in our 2008 Summer of Golf programme which provides a great opportunity to put Anglesey on the map and to showcase the surrounding area of North Wales.
"Golf clubs up and down the country are benefiting from hosting such events which contribute greatly to Wales' growing profile as an international golfing and tourism destination."