Monke eager to be where she belongs

Dubai: Dubai Ladies Masters defending champion Anja Monke realised the true meaning of the adage "home is where the heart is" this year when she shifted her focus across the Atlantic from playing on the United States' LPGA Tour.

The move looked good but little did Monke realise it was about to bring her a downturn in fortunes. She failed to find the form that helped her blatantly deny Annika Sorenstam victory in the last tournament of her career in Dubai in 2008.

The German, a medical technologist-turned-professional golfer, went without success in 15 LPGA outings and that was when she decided she had to move away from her "lonely" and unproductive existence in the US and get back to Europe where she had only just started to see success.

After going five years without a win, Monke had exploded on the global stage in 2008, when she won the Vediorbis France Open. She followed that victory with success on the Emirates Golf Club's Majlis Course, where she lifted the Dubai Ladies Masters trophy before a crowd that was cheering for a Sorenstam win.

Monke, 32, has seen several changes to her life since her last win. She got married and claims to have turned around a tumultuous year with her decision to return to Europe.

"My season wasn't great golf-wise because I decided to play more often on the LPGA tour, especially at the beginning of 2009. I was travelling there all by myself and that's why I didn't feel great," said Monke, who has posted three Top-10 and two Top-20 finishes since her return to the Ladies European Tour a few months ago.

"I was quite lonely and that's why I wasn't really playing well, so my golfing season wasn't great out there and then I decided to come back to my family and friends, play back in Europe and that was a good decision because it was pretty good coming close to defending the title in France. I finished tied third there, which was good because I wasn't hitting the ball great. The season in Europe just got better and better "

Monke is looking forward to the 500,000-euro (Dh2.7 million) tournament, which gets underway on Thursday, but she agrees defending the title will definitely be much tougher, because of the pressure and the strong field the tournament has attracted. She is definitely in a much better frame of mind for the challenge though.