Olesen itching to get first defence underway

Thorbjorn Olesen says he’s excited to enter a tournament as the defending champion for the first time ahead of the Perth International.

The Dane has arrived in Australia for this week’s event at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club having had to wait over a year to get the chance to defend the title he won by three strokes from Victor Dubuisson in October 2014.

The tournament was left off the European Tour calender last year and the 26-year-old has been eagerly awaiting its return.

Olesen’s other European Tour wins saw him claim the final edition of the Sicilian Open in 2012, while he finished atop the leaderboard last year in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

The world number 60 says entering the Perth International as the champion puts extra pressure on him to perform, but he is confident of putting up a strong defence after some good results this year, finishing in the top-10 in two of his last three outings.

When asked by the European Tour website how he felt about being the defending champion, Olesen said: “Never tried it before, so I don’t really know how it’s going to feel on Thursday.

“But I’ve been looking forward to this tournament and looking forward to defending. Hopefully it will be a good week.

“I think it puts more pressure on you, but it’s also nice to go out there and know you can win on this golf course. And I saw a lot of different places last year, so I know what to do from those places.”