Colin Montgomerie is looking to defend his Volvo Scandinavian Masters crown in Sweden and kick-start his bid for an eighth successive European Order of Merit title.

And the Scot has revealed a new, slimmer figure to give himself a chance to triumph this weekend and to boost his chances of finally winning one of golf's four major titles

The world number four said has lost one stone since last month's Open and said: "I feel that I've got five or six years left in the game. I feel that I owe it to myself to be fit for it - and I was going the wrong way.

"It gives me great self-esteem and makes me feel good about myself, and that's half the battle out on the golf course. I walk a bit taller.

"I'm very keen to sustain it. That's the key thing. The easy thing is losing it; the difficult thing is sustaining it.

"If you're not comfortable with something change it. I'm changing things that I'm not comfortable with, and my weight and self-esteem was one of them.

"You know how determined I am. When I get the bit between my teeth about something I usually find a way of dealing with it. But there is a lot more to go.

"If I win eight, nine, 10 Order of Merits it doesn't really matter any more. I'd like to win a major; I feel I've got 20-odd majors to go and I'd like to give myself the best opportunity of winning one.".

Montgomerie, who won this title last year with a 20-under par total of 268, is currently fourth in the Order of Merit, lying almost �400,000 behind leader Ernie Els.

But with the South African not taking part in Stockholm (3-6 August), and �164,000 prize for the victor, a win for Montgomerie would put him within �236,000 of Els and boost his hopes of extending his incredible record in Europe.

However, the Scot is up against a tough field that includes the current second and third-ranked European players, Darren Clarke and 1996 winner Lee Westwood.

Home soil

Also featuring, on home soil, is Jesper Parnevik, who was the runner-up to Montgomerie in this tournament last year, finishing nine shots behind.

Parnevik, who plays on the US Tour and has won twice in America this season, is back in Europe for the tournament which he won in 1995 and again in 1998.

Also in the field are other previous champions Joakim Haeggman (1997) and Peter Baker (1993). Westwood in particular has happy memories of the tournament four years ago as it provided him with his maiden victory on the European Tour.

Former US Masters winner Ian Woosnam, Clarke, Thomas Bj�rn and Michael Campbell add to the quality of the field while a further ten champions of the 2000 season are playing the 'King's Meadow' course in Stockholm.