by DAVID RINALDI , Paisley Daily Express

Forsyth begins his campaign on Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships in the United Arab Emirates as part of the Tour's Middle East triple header.

The continent's elite then head to Doha seven days later for the Commercialbank Qatar Masters before they complete their sojourn in the Gulf at the Dubai Desert Classic at the end of the month.

Over pounds 4.5million is available in prize money from the three events.

But Forsyth is simply looking forward to returning to the golf course after managing just THREE rounds in the past two months since playing alongside Colin Montgomerie for Scotland at the World Cup in China.

The 32-year-old told Express Sports: "I'm looking forward to playing again as I've had the best part of two months off because of the weather.

"These are three good tournaments with good weather in places we know well and that we're comfortable with.

"It should really be a good three weeks.

"I've just played a round at Western Gailes with a couple of friends.

"And that was only the third time I've been on a golf course since the World Cup.

"It's been quite frustrating but I've still been working at the range at Mearns Castle with my coach Ian Rae.

"We've done some good work on my swing.

"We've changed a couple of things and I'm feeling good about the season."

Forsyth ended his six-year wait for his second tour title in 2008 when he captured the Madeira Islands Open back in March.

He followed that with a second-place finish at the Estoril Open in Portugal a fortnight later.

But, apart from a ninth place finish at the year's final major, the USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills, it proved to be 12 months of frustration for the golfing Buddie.

And that's why Forsyth's main goal in 2009 is to improve his consistency and ensure he is chapping on the door of the winner's enclosure more often than not.

He added: "I'd like to do better than last year and I need to improve my consistency.

"Last season, I only had three good results all year.

"I need to improve on that.

"Too often I was finishing in the 50s and 60s and I just need to start consistently finishing around 10th, 15th or 20th.

"I got myself in good positions three times last season to really push on towards the top 50 in the world rankings but I slowly slid back the way.

"This year, I really need to try to follow it up when I have done well."

Forsyth has already secured his place at this year's USPGA Championship at Hazeltine in August.

But his current world ranking of 122 is not good enough to secure automatic entry for the US Masters, US Open or The Open.

He is now keen to remedy that.

He said: "Finishing ninth at the USPGA in 2008 gets me into this year's event.

"But I need to try to qualify for The Open and the US Open , which I enjoyed last year.

"You want to do well in these tournaments and play in them as often as you can."

This season also sees the inaugural Race to Dubai.

This replaces the Order of Merit, with the top 15 players on the European Tour sharing a pounds 6.5million bonus pool and the overall winner pocketing a cool pounds 1.3million.

The 2009 season finishes with the Dubai World Championship, which replaces the Volvo Masters at Valderrama and also has a pounds 6.5million prize pool.

It will be contested by the top 60 players on the Tour.

The riches on offer have attracted interest from top US Tour stars such as Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim.

Forsyth believes that can only be a good thing for the game on this side of the pond.

He added: "The Dubai World Championship replaces the Volvo Masters and is a big tournament in terms of stature and the amount of prize money.

"This will attract even more big names and the bottom line is that it raises the profile of the Tour.

"It can only be good having guys like Mickelson, Kim, Els or whoever competing as it also means there will be bigger world ranking points on offer."

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