Five Irish players are in action in Qatar this week - Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Michael Hoey and Damien McGrane - all following on from the Volvo Golf Champions in Bahrain. They will be joined by Paul McGinley who returns to action after p0laying in Abu Dhabi the previous week.
Clarke will be seeking to make up for the final round 73 in Bahrain which saw him move outside the top five finishers after three solid earlier rounds at the Volvo event.
Damien McGrane will be hoping to make the cut having fallen short last Friday at the The Royal Golf Club.
World Number Ten Ian Poulter plays the 2011 Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy at Doha Golf Club this week at Doha Golf Club.
Poulter, who lost out in a play-off to reigning Commercialbank Qatar Masters champion Robert Karlsson at the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World two months ago, is the third player in the world’s top ten to confirm for the Doha date.
The Englishman joins fellow European Ryder Cup teammates World Number One Lee Westwood and World Number Three Martin Kaymer for the 14th staging of the $2.5 million tournament organised by the Qatar Golf Association (QGA) in collaboration with the Qatar Olympic Committee and title sponsors Commercialbank.
The 35 year old is one of the most popular players in the game and will undoubtedly attract large galleries when he plays for the seventh time at the 7,388-yard Doha Golf Club. Poulter, the winner of ten European Tour titles, has yet to win in Qatar and will be looking to improve on his best appearance when he claimed 11th place on his debut back in 2000.
“I played great at the end of the year after The Ryder Cup so I’m hoping to kick on from where I left off,” said Poulter, who spent most of the off season resting during a break in the Bahamas. “Winning the WGC last year was a big thing for me, not only confidence-wise but obviously getting the monkey off my back of winning on the PGA Tour. The next step for me is to win a Major – I’ve got to try and stay focused and peak for those tournaments.”
Last year’s win over fellow countryman Paul Casey at the WGC – Accenture Match Play in Arizona saw Poulter become the first Englishman to win a WGC event. It was a victory that lifted him into the world’s top five for the first time after a year of consistency in 2009 that culminated in a ninth place finish in the inaugural Race to Dubai.
In 2010 he also won in Hong Kong and played a significant role in Europe’s thrilling one-point win over the US at The Ryder Cup in Wales. With over one million followers on his Twitter account and his own clothing range - Ian Poulter Design – the World Number Ten is every inch the 21st century professional golfer.
“We’ve also enjoyed having Ian with us in Qatar and this year will be no exception,” said Qatar Golf Association President Hassan Al Nuami.
“He is always popular with the fans and I’m sure there will be many people following him over the four days.”
Commercialbank Group CEO Andrew Stevens added that the 2011 tournament is shaping up to be yet another star-studded affair. “The players who have confirmed so far are global stars, while there are many more big names to come,” he said. “First we had world-class tennis and now we are enjoying the Asian Cup – with the Commercialbank Qatar Masters to follow, these are exciting times for sports fans in the state of Qatar.”
