European Tour Power Rankings: Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
By Matt Coles
The European Tour’s second desert swing continues this week, with the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters taking place at Education City Golf Club.
This is the 23rd edition of the Qatar Masters, one that was only the second event on the Arabian Peninsula for the inaugural event back in 1998.
Up until this year, the tournament had been played at Doha Golf Club, but this year marks a new era for the event, with Education City Golf Club taking over the challenge of hosting the European Tour event.
This is an event that has been a record-breaking since its inception, with several European Tour records being broken in Qatar since 1998. The first came when Rolf Muntz became the first Dutch player to win on the Tour.
2006 saw Ernie Els tie Bernhard Langer’s record for most consecutive cuts made on the Tour at 69. The ‘Big Easy’ went on to record 82 consecutive cuts made, a record that still stands to this day. Last year, nine players shared the lead at the halfway stage of the event, a first on the European Tour.
From records to winners, and only three men have lifted the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters title multiple times, with Branden Grace he most recent player to do so. He won the event in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016, becoming the first golfer to win in Qatar in consecutive years.
Paul Lawrie and Adam Scott are the other two men two have lifted the trophy twice, with the Scot being the only man to win in Qatar in two separate centuries, doing so in 1999 and 2012. The former Masters champion won this even in 2002 and 2008.
The likes of Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Henrik Stenson, and Thomas Bjorn are also among the list of former winners at the Qatar Masters.
This year, the event moves to Education City Golf Club, a Jose Maria Olazabal designed venue, which has an 18-hole, 9-hole and 6-hole course in its ground.
The Championship course is in action this week, a par-72, 7,306-yard brute of a course, one in which Olazabal purposely led the first few holes along an ancient wadi wall, adding to the charm of the venue.
The Spaniard says of the course: “Along several holes on both the front and back nine, we continue the reoccurring riverbed theme feature – which, on occasion, comes strategically into play.”
It will be a tough test for the players this week, with the par-5 6th hole measuring 593-yards, the longest hole on the course. The par-3 9th measures 230yds, and will also be a stern test for the field this week.
The 144-strong field in Qatar this week have been whittled down to ten for our Power Rankings, but who takes the top spot?