At the same time at the Volvo Masters itself celebrates 21 years of high drama, so too does the Japanese Volvo Masters Amateur series.

At the same time as Nick Faldo was holing the winning putt to clinch the inaugural Volvo Masters title at Valderrama in October 1988, so too was the champion of the first-ever Volvo Overdrive event in Japan, the forerunner to the Volvo Masters Amateur.

And, like the showpiece of the European Tour, Volvo's Japanese amateurs have been going strong, ever-present in the Volvo Masters Amateur two decades already, an estimated 60,000-plus players enjoying the competition and the camaraderie of the event since 1988.

Throughout this year at golf clubs all over Japan, over 4,000 amateur golfers, around 500 of them women have been teeing up and aiming for one of those 120 places in that all-important Japan National Final, which takes place at Sodegaura Country Club in Chiba Prefecture on 12^th September.

The four Japanese players who qualify to represent their country at the 2008 Volvo Masters Amateur World Final should not be daunted by Valderrama.

Why? Because the 7,000-yard, Par-72 Sodegaura Country Club is one of the toughest golf courses in Asia and has been home to the Japan Tour showpiece, the Bridgestone Open won last year by Japan's leading player Shingo Katayama, 24-times a winner on the Japan Tour.

"The Volvo Masters Amateur Japan began life in 1988 as the Volvo Overdrive, the same year as Volvo began to sponsor professional golf in Europe, including the Volvo Masters," says Takako Ozawa, the project manager, adding, "It has worked very well for us and we are looking forward to our national final at Sodegaura Country Club and then, for four fortunate Japanese golfers, to the Volvo Masters Amateur World Final in Spain."

And with the 21^st and final Volvo Masters taking place at Valderrama this year, to be replaced by the Volvo World Match Play Championship from 2009 onwards, then the Volvo Masters Amateur Japan becomes, officially, the longest-running event in Volvo's award-winning golf portfolio.

www.volvocars.com/jp