As Frank Sinatra would often warble, it's nice to go travelling but it's so much nicer to come home...unless, of course, you come home to discover that you left the tap in the kitchen sink running and your bumbling incompetence has led to the entire tenement being flooded during your prolonged absence.

Here in leafy, luxurious Wentworth, the European Tour has come home to roost and Stephen Gallacher couldn't be more delighted. "It feels brilliant to be back on European soil," enthused the Scot ahead of the circuit's flagship event at its own headquarters. Having spent most of the 2015 campaign competing in America, Gallacher, who was fifth here at Wentworth last year and fourth in 2010, is revelling in the home comforts. With the Irish Open coming up next week followed by a short hop over to Sweden for the Nordea Masters, the next fortnight probably feels about as taxing as being carried around on a sedan chair compared to some of the distances he has been covering of late. "It's nice to have just a 55 minute flight from Edinburgh to London and then get home again on the Sunday night and spend some time at home with the family doing normal things like taking the dog for a walk," said the 40-year-old, whose last European Tour event was in Malaysia back in February before he embarked on a five-event stint in the USA. "When you get two nights sleep in your own bed, you don't feel as tired. It's almost refreshing being able to play three weeks in a row yet still spend some time at home. I think that's the key to being refreshed.

"The PGA Tour is great but even when you finish on a Sunday you end up killing time and boredom can be the biggest factor of all when you are away from home. When you are travelling from event to event, you don't have a fixed abode. That's the hard thing."

The hard thing for Luke Donald these days is trying to replicate the form that took him to the top of the world rankings just three years ago. Ahead of this week's championship, the Englishman is down in 60th place on the global order and in danger of missing out on an automatic place in both the US Open and the Open. Wentworth is a happy hunting ground, of course. The 37-year-old won the BMW PGA title in 2011 as he moved to the head of the world standings and then successfully defended his crown the following year to reclaim that coveted No 1 spot he had lost to Rory McIlroy.

Since sharing third in this championship 12 months ago, Donald has managed just one other top-five finish in 23 events to slither down the world order. The quiet man of golf has been, well, pretty quiet. "Hopefully, this can be a place that will spark my season," said Donald, who switched coaches from Pat Goss to Chuck Cook at the end of 2013 but quickly chucked Cook and got with Goss again. "I feel like I'm on the right path again. It's obviously not been a great run for me but that's a little bit how golf is. It ebbs and flows."

With Rory McIlroy defending his title this week, the European Tour's homecoming has been bolstered by the appearance of big hitters like Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood. Martin Kaymer is another Euro star in the line-up and while happy to be here the German wouldn't mind delaying his Surrey sojourn until later in the campaign. "The only thing that the tournament struggles with is the greens every year," suggested the two-time major winner. "It's very difficult I think for the greenkeeper to make the greens as good as they can be at this time of year. And talking to a few (Wentworth) members, they said if you come here in six weeks, the greens are perfect."

Of course, trying to shoehorn the championship into a new date on a calendar that's as hectic as this correspondent's social diary would be a near impossible task. "Yes, it's going to be difficult to plan around the US Open and the Open," conceded Kaymer. "But for such a big event, you should get the best date, and for us players, it would be even more fun to play this golf course. It's the most important tournament that we play on the European Tour and I would like to see this played later in the year."