A year on from their remarkable showdown at Royal Birkdale, Mark Wiebe and Bernhard Langer will be reunited this week as Wales hosts the Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex for the first time.

The pair memorably battled it out in near darkness 12 months ago before Wiebe eventually prevailed in the first Monday finish in the history of the prestigious Championship.

Now they have been drawn together - along with the Spanish debutant Miguel Angel Jimenez - for the opening two rounds at Royal Porthcawl GC, and Wiebe hopes a return to links golf can inspire him to a successful defence of his title.

Despite having struggled with injury since his win, Wiebe admits he has enjoyed his year as Senior Open champion and is looking forward to taking on a new course in Royal Porthcawl, which becomes the 12th different venue - and first in Wales - to host the Senior Open Championship.

"I think I celebrated for a few months," he said. "It was the thrill of a lifetime for a golfer to win a Senior Open. Playing back-to-back weeks, with The Open last week, I'm kind of living in heaven right now. This kind of golf is inspiring, so I hope I play inspired golf this week."

Colin Montgomerie, chasing a third senior major this season, is out at 1.50 with Tom Watson, the US Ryder Cup captain, and Fred Couples, while Sandy Lyle goes out at 9.10am with Seiki Okuda, of Japan, and Spain's Santiago Luna.