Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn will be among the stars in action when the NBO Oman Open gets underway in Muscat next month.

The 46-year-old Dane will join former Open champions Paul Lawrie and Darren Clarke in the Feburary 15-18 event at Al Mouj Golf Club.

For Lawrie, winner of the 1999 Open Championship, he is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’ll be one of the first few of 2018 for me personally and I’ve heard some good things about the golf course at Al Mouj already,” he said. “It’ll be nice to get out to Muscat to see it for myself.”

European Tour stalwarts Robert Karlsson, Thongchai Jaidee, David Howell and Peter Hanson, who between them have 30 wins on Tour, will be going toe-to-toe with the next generation of Tour stars. That includes Korean starlets Jeunghun Wang and Soomin Lee, French duo Alexander Levy and Roman Wattel, Italy’s Renato Paratore, Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard and 2016 Road to Oman graduate Jordan Smith.

Former BMW PGA Champion Matteo Manassero will bring some firepower to Al Mouj Golf while this year’s BMW SA Open winner Chris Paisley tees it up hoping to build on his impressive season so far, which has also included top five finishes at both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

France’s Victor Dubuisson and Welshman Jamie Donaldson, two of the heroes of the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, will get their first taste of competitive golf in Oman.

Among the elite field will be Nasser Yacoob of Bahrain who earned his place in the field after winning this year’s OHI Oman Amateur Open in a play-off.

“It felt so great to get the win at the Amateur Open against a strong field and now I have the opportunity to tee off with some of the best players in the world at the NBO Oman Open,” he said.

“I’m very happy the European Tour is coming to Oman as it’s such a beautiful country. I can’t wait to play at Al Mouj Golf. I think it’s one of the most beautiful courses in the world. I have played there before but never with the European Tour players so that’s going to be really special. I’ve played the Dubai Desert Classic in the past but I think this one will be more special as I really love the course.”