The European Tour stays in the Middle East following last week's event in Oman, making the short journey west for the 21st edition of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Branden Grace are among the players to have won at Doha GC, but it was Jeunghun Wang who took home the title 12 months ago. The South Korean became the third youngest player to win three times on tour, aged 21 years and 144 days, behind only Matteo Manassero (19 years and 206 days) and Seve Ballesteros (20 years and 77 days).
Wang returns to Qatar this week, but will face stiff competition for one of the most unique trophies in golf, the Mother of Pearl. Our stats guru has weighed up the numbers and included Wang among his three players to put in your Fantasy side this week. Time to find out who else could be a smart pick.
Favourite: Chris Wood
Chris Wood arrives in Qatar on the back of a very strong showing at the NBO Oman Open last week, with the Englishman only being denied a fourth European Tour title by the brilliance of his close friend Joost Luiten. The 30 year old’s performance at Al Mouj Golf came as a bit of a surprise to some, with the Bristol native having missed the cut in all three of his previous appearances on the European Tour in 2018.
Not only is Wood coming to Doha GC on the back of three rounds in the 60s, he’s also returning to a golf course where he has fond memories, having won the 2013 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters with an 18 under par total, which is one of four top 20 finishes he’s enjoyed from seven starts here. Those performances see Wood come into this week averaging -1.70 from his 23 rounds in Qatar, which is the third best in that category in the field gathered here.
To conquer this tricky layout you need to be putting well, which is an area Wood excelled in last week in Oman where he led the field in that category, averaging just 1.658 putts per Green in Regulation. Putting wasn’t the only area where the Englishman excelled last week – he also found 67.9% of the fairways, which was over ten per cent more than his season average in that category. With Wood vying for a first European Tour title since the 2016 BMW PGA Championship this week, we wouldn’t be surprised if he was at the right end of the leaderboard again in Qatar.
Form horse: Jeunghun Wang
Another who knows what it takes to win at Doha Golf Club is defending champion Jeunghun Wang, who returns to Qatar in solid form. The South Korean has only missed one of the last 12 cuts on the European Tour, and is 37 under par for his last four events this season, so is clearly trending in the right direction.
Added to his good form, another reason to back Wang this week is his proficiency playing in windy conditions. His last two European Tour victories, at the 2016 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, and here in Doha last year, both came with the wind really blowing. With the forecast for the weekend suggesting we might see more of those famous Doha winds sweeping across this 7,348 yard layout, it might be another good week for the 22 year old in Qatar’s capital.
Wildcard: George Coetzee
No player in the field averages lower to par per round at Doha GC than George Coetzee, who is averaging -2.48 from his 21 rounds here. Although the South African missed the cut here last year, and has missed his last two cuts on the European Tour, he didn’t finish outside of the top 12 here in his four previous visits to Doha.
Coetzee’s excellent record here owes a lot to his performances on the greens, where the 31 year old averages just 27.8 putts per round (+2.4 vs. field) and 1.69 putts per GIR (+0.11 + vs. field), which both put him well clear of the next best players (Lorenzo-Vera at +1.5 and Elvira at +0.08, respectively). He might be a long way from his homeland, but Doha Golf Club, somewhere he clearly enjoys coming to, has felt very much like home for Coetzee over the years.
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