It's been USA all the way in men's golf recently, three majors and some major breaking news dominating the headlines, but the BMW International Open marks the beginning of the home stretch for European Ryder Cup hopefuls.
The likes of Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, Yannik Paul, Antoine Rozner, Robert MacIntyre and Pablo Larrazabal are all in the mix either for qualification, selection or both, and each of this sextet is in Germany for what's a well-established DP World Tour event.
Now permanently located at Golfclub Eichenried just northeast of Munich, where Larrazabal is a two-time champion, it's one that has delivered drama each and every year so far, never more so than when an emotional Haotong Li somehow denied Thomas Pieters 12 months ago.
With Pieters among those likely to miss the Ryder Cup having joined LIV Golf, the next three months provide a massive opportunity for a collection of would-be rookies and it's going to be fascinating not only to see how each of them plays, but how they manage their schedules and avoid the temptation to chase every pot of gold.
Meronk is in pole position for now but like Perez, Larrazabal and Romain Langasque does have to travel over from California, so with MacIntyre's fitness still uncertain it's another potential Ryder Cup candidate, RASMUS HOJGAARD, who might prove the man to beat.
Hojgaard has had to be patient on the recovery trail in 2023, injury having forced him to miss the Hero Cup and allow his brother Nicolai to enhance his own reputation instead, but that patience was rewarded with third place in the KLM Open two starts ago.
It was interesting to hear him dismiss all fitness excuses there for the first time since his return and it seems he took real pleasure from scoring so well despite a wild driving display, just as it was encouraging to see his driving improve significantly one week later in the Porsche European Open, where a lowly finish was in line with all three previous starts at a brutal golf course.
It's off the tee which explains why I've remained wary of Hojgaard lately but if that department improves again then everything will be in place ahead of his return to Eichenried, a better course fit for a player who has won at the Belfry, which is a similar if slightly more demanding parkland course.
Crocker's troublesome putter has cost him a crack at this title over the last couple of years and he was the second-best ball-striker in the field in 2022, enough to suggest that this is a really good course for him.
He does tie in with a couple of those past champions, too, having gone really close in Prague where Pavan won his first DP World Tour title, and in Switzerland where Romero has a pair of top-10s including a play-off defeat in 2019.
Crocker's top-10 finish at Mount Juliet in Ireland is another form line I like and I'd certainly have Eichenried down as more suitable than Ullna, a fiddly course in Sweden where he chased home the straight-hitting Dale Whitnell two weeks ago.
Mansell is a serious player who looked like he might break through in the Dunhill Links last season and has played well throughout this one, his only weekend off coming in the KLM Open where he suffered one of the worst putting displays you're ever likely to see.
As with Crocker that's always something of a risk but he bounced back next time out in Germany and has been what you'd call a streaky putter, that 12-stroke turnaround from one week to the next by no means an isolated incident.
We'll need another after the putter went cold in Sweden but his approach play was exceptional there and ultimately, finishes of 29th and 32nd are indicative of a player who is close to getting everything together under the right circumstances.
Schneider has shown that he can produce the goods on home soil with two top-20s here and two top-10s at Green Eagle, and last year's effort in this event can be upgraded following a slow start – he was among those flying back over from the US Open a week earlier.
Perhaps that helps to explain why he has three top-10 finishes from four starts in the country since joining the paid ranks, adding to big efforts here in the German Amateur and the Eisenhower Trophy. Sami Valimaki was involved in both and both he and Lacroix have gone well in this event already.
Lacroix finished 10th last year, gaining strokes in all departments, and he went on to play nicely at both the Belfry and Mount Juliet before narrowly failing to keep hold of full status despite a gallant top-15 finish to end the campaign in Portugal.
Back on the DP World Tour in some lower-grade events over the past six weeks, he's found form with fifth in the European Open and 12th in the Scandinavian Mixed, both times impressing with every part of his game but especially so from tee-to-green.
Now a full DP World Tour member following his successful Challenge Tour campaign, Schott has been left behind by his friend Nick Bachem and the rest of his compatriots in what's been a good year for German golf, which continued in the Women's Amateur over the weekend.
However we saw just what he can do with a fine driving display for 14th place last time out over at Green Eagle in Hamburg, which followed a confidence-boosting fightback to make the cut in the Netherlands thanks to a 10-shot turnaround from Thursday to Friday.
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