Fisher hoping for a birthday present worth at least $1.25m

Dubai: Ross Fisher will be looking to collect the birthday gift of his life when he tees off in the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World on Jumeirah Golf Estates' Earth Course starting Thursday.

The Englishman will turn 29 on Sunday and no prize could possibly mean more to him than winning $1.25 million (Dh4.59 million) of the $7.5 million prize fund on offer at the tournament.

Realistic hope

Fisher is also one of four golfers in with a real shot of taking home the Race to Dubai title and should he win the inaugural DWC and the top two in the Race standings at present, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, finish outside the top three at the tournament, Fisher will be guaranteed a further $1.5 million of the $7.5 million Race to Dubai bonus pool.

Fisher said arriving early has helped him acclimatise to the Dubai air and he is feeling relaxed leading into the flagship event which will bring to a close the 2009 season.

"It feels pretty good; I feel as acclimatised as I can. I got here earlier to Saturday with family, so it's nice and relaxed," said Fisher, who collected the third victory of his professional career when he beat Anthony Kim at the Volvo World Match Play Championship earlier this month.

"I came to the course on Monday played nine holes and then played in the Pro-Am on Tuesday and did a little bit of light practice [yesterday], so overall the game feels in fine shape and I'm just looking forward to getting started now.

"It's a massive week for everyone, but it's more important for guys like Rory, Westy [Westwood], Martin [Kaymer] and myself, because we're obviously the top four guys that have got the most realistic chance of winning [the Race to Dubai]. It's going to be a long week, but an exciting one and hopefully there'll be some drama come Sunday."

High drama is expected over the next four days and Fisher is right in saying it'll be tough to concentrate on the golf. His plan is to take it "one shot at a time".

"There's going to be leaderboards out there, so you're going to know what all the guys are doing. I'll be playing with Martin, so I'll be able to keep a close eye on him, but I've got to focus on what I've got to do; take it one shot at a time, go out there and shoot the best four rounds that I can and hopefully it will be good enough."