Fahad Nasser Al Naimi (second left), General Secretary of Qatar Golf Association (QGA) and Hussein Al Abdulla (centre), Chief Marketing Officer at Commercial Bank of Qatar pose for a picture along with Faisal Al Naimi, (left) Executive Director of QGA, Mi
A field of 144 players will be vying for the top prize at the European Tour sanctioned Commercial Bank Qatar Masters which kicks off here at the Doha Golf Club tomorrow, organisers of the event informed here yesterday.
The four-day event will see the likes of Paul Lawrie, who will be looking to become the first three-time winner of this event when he tees it up at the Peter Harradine designed course. Besides Lawrie, six other Major Championship winners will be seen in action, Qatar Golf Association (QGA) officials informed.
“We have about one hundred forty four top professional players, who will be vying for the top prize.
“With some of the major championship winners and top level players taking part, the level of play will be of the highest standard and we are looking forward to some magnificent golf over the next four days,” said Fahad Nasser Al Naimi, General Secretary of the QGA, while speaking at a press conference yesterday. Lawrie, the 50-year-old leads the field in Qatar.
The Scotsman first etched his name on the Pearl trophy in February 1999 - five months before he tasted Major glory, winning The Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links. Over a decade later, in 2012, Lawrie triumphed again in Qatar - lifting the trophy in the early part of the year for a second time.
In addition to Lawrie, other players who have won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and also lifted Major silverware are Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia, all of whom who will be eager to lay their hands on the Mother of Pearl trophy in Qatar.
Mikael Eriksson, Tournament Director said the some of the top golfers will be looking forward to extend their impressive run at the recently concluded Oman Open at the Qatar Masters.
“They have been playing continuously for two weeks in a row, Oman last week and they are coming to Doha this week, I think the quality of the players is very good, hopefully we will see a good week ahead,” said Eriksson.
The event has become a popular with many top players,and they have enjoyed playing in Qatar. The course layout, hospitality has made the tournament a must visit for quite a few players. Together with Oman these two weeks is going to be a fantastic weeks of golf,” he added.
Eriksson said the field is wide open and anyone can take home the trophy.
“I always said anyone can win the tournament nowadays on the European Tour because the level of play. Everybody who plays on the European tour is so good nowadays. I think there would be a lot of guys that go in the door,” added Eriksson.
Hussein Al Abdulla, Chief Marketing Officer at Commercial Bank of Qatar, sponsors of the event, said they have been supporting the tournament keeping Vision 2030 in mind.
“We have been reaching out to school students and we have reached out to more than 500 schools students through our campaign. We have been supporting Vision 2030, which basically aims to spread sport and education. We have done a lot of education awareness among the schools, malls, social media,” said Al Abdulla.
He hoped golf lovers will come and enjoy the sport as well as the family entertainment programmes which will be held at the venue.
Faisal Al Naimi, Executive Director of QGA informed that the tournament will be broadcast by the European Tour.
“The event will be broadcast by European Tour production and will reach over 400 million households through its live coverage reaching out to over 95 countries.”
Meanwhile the pro-am event will be held today starting from 7.00am.
