More than 80 professionals are chasing a window of opportunity this week as they bid to book their place in the first Midland PGA Order of Merit event of the season - the Glazerite Trophy.
The majestic Wellingborough Golf Club, situated in the grounds of the impressive Harrowden Hall, stages the pre-qualifier on Wednesday with the 36-hole final being held on May 8.
A potential 30 spots are up for grabs with the qualifiers joining the top 30 from last year's Order of Merit - including defending Glazerite champion Ian Lyner (The Leicestershire) and 2006 winner Paul Streeter (Southwell).
Among those looking to secure their place in the final to challenge Lyner, whose defence of the title comes just eight months after his victory, are Great Barr duo Richard Beech and Thomas Cheetham, Daniel Francis (Ludlow), Shane Owen (Trentham), Lee Mason (Mickleover), Thomas Rastall (Sleaford) and Marcus Pownall (Newcastle-under-Lyme).
Glazerite managing director John Hewitt is taken aback at the speed of the tournament's return having seen it only battled for last autumn.
"I'm amazed to see it come round so quick as it was only played for last August," he said.
"It's been moved back to May, where it was in its first year and I think being the opening Order of Merit event adds something to the tournament."
Hewitt, who is a member at Wellingborough, expects the field at both the qualifier and final to be challenged after recent changes to toughen up the course.
"It's one of the best courses in the county and over the past five or six years a lot of money has been spent improving the greens and moving the tee boxes back to make the course more challenging," he said.
"A lot of the old bunkers had become redundant with players hitting the ball well past them but that's slowly changing."
A pro-am will follow the tournament, which is another change from last year when it preceded the main event, and one welcomed by Hewitt.
"We found a lot of players went home after the pro-am as they had the tournament the following day and we're hoping that the switch will avoid the players having to dash off," he said.
"We've found the pro-am to be a successful day and a good way of promoting ourselves to the rest of the trade.
"Last year we had snooker legend Steve Davis play in the event and hand out the prizes, which added to it."
The Glazerite Trophy, now in its third year, has quickly established itself on the Midland schedule and is one six events in the race for the end of season Srixon PGA Play-Offs to find Great Britain and Ireland's No 1 professional.
Royal Liverpool will stage this year's play-offs which will feature the top three on the Order of Merit from each of the PGA's seven regions.
The restricted field sees 21 players pitting their wits against each other over 36 holes of one of the toughest links courses in the country.
And in addition to the prize money and the title of the country's best professional, the extra incentive for competitors is entry to four of Europe's biggest events - the BMW PGA Championship, Celtic Manor Wales Open, Barclays Scottish Open and European Open.