Justin Rose is the latest to play host as the British Masters continues on its travels around England, this time to the much heralded Walton Heath in Surrey, just 25 or so miles south-east of Wentworth.

Rose won this title at Woburn back in 2002 after a classic duel with Ian Poulter, and it goes down as one of his many career highlights. Not only was it the only tournament Rose won in the presence of his late father, Ken, but it remains his only success in England in a career which has taken him to all corners of the globe.

Should Rose need any further incentive, a win or two-way share of second here will see him return to the top of the world rankings and he's had sufficient time to recover from helping Europe to Ryder Cup victory in Paris. He really ought to play well and at least threaten to take back that top spot he held so briefly.

That said, his standing in the game owes more to his consistency than winning strike-rate and recent efforts on home soil have been underwhelming. Considering his quality, form figures of 50-25-38-12 at Wentworth are poor and his second place there six years ago is one of just four top-five finishes in 42 starts in England.

Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari are of course respected, the latter having won the BMW PGA Championship nearby earlier this year and more recently starred at the Ryder Cup, after which the former finished second in the Dunhill Links. These wonderful ball-strikers play well most weeks these days and there's no reason that can't continue at Walton Heath, even if Fleetwood will have been disappointed not to win on Sunday.

But a recent scouting trip to the course put Hao-tong Li towards the top of my shortlist and he gets the headline vote having since underlined his credentials.

Li has been demonstrating clear signs of promise for several weeks now, sitting third at halfway in the Netherlands and fifth at the same stage in Portugal, before defying a slow start to climb from 90th to fifth through the final three rounds of the Dunhill Links.

The pieces seem to be falling nicely into place for a late-season push and winning the team event at St Andrews last week won't hurt - picking up any kind of silverware at the home of golf is always significant.

Li finished second in a US Open qualifier here at Walton Heath two years ago so he knows the course well and it was a real statement of intent to take time out to remind himself of the layout two days after a disappointing finish to the Portugal Masters.