Preview: Qatar Masters
The European Tour is in the final leg of the tour of the Middle East, travelling north from Oman to Qatar for the eleventh event of the 2020 season.
Controversy, the Middle East, and the European Tour are forming a ménage á trois that is equal parts uncomfortable, disheartening and subjectively interesting. Across social channels this week, the European Tour have been promoting photos of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium that will serve as a backdrop to the golf course this week. Any research done concerning the living and working conditions reveal this promotion to be a touch sour on the pallet.
Turning our attention away from this however, and focussing solely on the golf that will be played, it's setting up to be another entertaining week, with an increased focus on the core membership of the European Tour.
The top ranked player in the field this week is the 2018 Qatar Masters champion, Eddie Pepperell. This will be the Official World Golf Ranking's number 63's fourth event of 2020, and it's been a mixed bag so far. The Englishman opened the year with two consecutive Missed Cuts, and subsequently dropped out of the World's Top 50, but his most recent event delivered a T11 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic. It has been a few weeks since his last appearance now, which may have something to do with the upcoming cutoff to qualify for the WGC Match Play Championship. On March 19th, the Top-64 players in the world will be eligible to play in Austin, meaning only two event weeks remain for players to push their way in, or in Pepperell's case, to solidify their spot.
Also sitting on the cusp of qualification for Austin are Robert Macintyre and Thomas Pieters - both of whom are within 10 spots of that magic 64th spot in the rankings.
Pieters has shown signs of recapturing his 2015/16 form, ranking third on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach, and having put some solid results together in January and February, highlighted by a T3 finish in Saudi Arabia. It was three years between wins number three and four for Pieters when he took home the trophy in Czechia last year. The gap between numbers four and five will be far shorter.
European Tour Rookie of the year Robert Macintyre is just three World Ranking spots away from qualification into the second WGC of 2020. The Scotsman's one professional win came in the Middle East - in Kuwait on the MENA Tour. He placed second three times in 2019 on the European Tour, and has started 2020 positively, with a T8 finish in Dubai, and a strong final round 67 at Chapultepec at the WGC-Mexico Championship. This championship's first two iterations both produced Scottish Champions (Andrew Coltart, Paul Lawrie), and the trophy could very well have a third Scottish name inscribed upon it by Sunday afternoon.
As it is a new course, the test sample for making a prediction is almost non-existent. At previous host, Doha GC, the list of winners has been mightily impressive, with some top names from the European Tour like Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace, Robert Karlsson, Thomas Bjorn and Chris Wood all taking the top spot in the last decade alone.
What we do know is that the course is relatively long. A Par-71 course standing at over 7,300 yards is going to require strength with the longest club in the bag. In addition to this, the Par-3's at Education City GC stand at 230 yards, 214 yards, 194 yards, and 179 yards - which is about the variety one might expect from a course called Education City GC. One might also expect that Par-3 scoring average could prove influential, with the apparent difficulty of the four to be played this week.
With that being said, here are The Quick Hook's picks for the 2020 Qatar Masters:
It's now eight consecutive weeks inside the Top-30 of events, which is impressive longevity in the top half of Sunday leaderboards.
So far in the 2020 season, Green has average half a stroke gained per round the category of Approach, and +0.83 strokes per round Off the Tee. If he can put this to good use with a solid week on the greens, it might just be the week Gavin Green seals his first win on Tour.
For many, Kaymer will be the hot favourite this week - and for good reason.
The two-time major champion is fourth on Tour in the category of Strokes Gained: Approach, where is gaining +1.80 strokes per round, which is almost can't fail to produce fantastic scores.
Perhaps the best indicator of how good Kaymer's iron play has been this season is his Par-3 Scoring Average. With 64 holes short holes played, Kaymer ranks second on Tour with an average of 2.89. Carrying similar form into this week would see him pick up a serious amount of shots on the field.
It's now almost six years since Kaymer blew away the field at Pinehurst to claim the US Open, which astoundingly is the last time the German won anywhere in the world. Six years without a win for someone of Kaymer's quality is quite simply bizarre, but don't be surprised if the Qatar Masters brings an end to one of golf's most inexplicable winless streaks.
Coetzee emerged from a rough start to 2020 in which he missed two consecutive cuts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Since then, the South African has put together three consecutive Top-10's across three tours (European, Challenge, Sunshine).
Qatar has also been a lucrative stop for Coetzee. He finished T2 here last year, ultimately losing out to fellow countryman Justin Harding by two strokes. In 2018, another good week saw Coetzee finish in T8. Across these eight rounds, Coetzee is 25 under par.
It may be a different course this year, but a returning to Qatar with good memories of past events here will do nothing to hurt Coetzee's chances.
Education City Golf Club, designed by Jose Maria Olazabal - Photo from European Tour Twitter Account
Leaving Doha Golf Club behind, the Tour has found a new home for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in Education City Golf Club; a name that is quite astoundingly not even the most bizarre for a host club in the first quarter of the season.Controversy, the Middle East, and the European Tour are forming a ménage á trois that is equal parts uncomfortable, disheartening and subjectively interesting. Across social channels this week, the European Tour have been promoting photos of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium that will serve as a backdrop to the golf course this week. Any research done concerning the living and working conditions reveal this promotion to be a touch sour on the pallet.
Turning our attention away from this however, and focussing solely on the golf that will be played, it's setting up to be another entertaining week, with an increased focus on the core membership of the European Tour.
The top ranked player in the field this week is the 2018 Qatar Masters champion, Eddie Pepperell. This will be the Official World Golf Ranking's number 63's fourth event of 2020, and it's been a mixed bag so far. The Englishman opened the year with two consecutive Missed Cuts, and subsequently dropped out of the World's Top 50, but his most recent event delivered a T11 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic. It has been a few weeks since his last appearance now, which may have something to do with the upcoming cutoff to qualify for the WGC Match Play Championship. On March 19th, the Top-64 players in the world will be eligible to play in Austin, meaning only two event weeks remain for players to push their way in, or in Pepperell's case, to solidify their spot.
Also sitting on the cusp of qualification for Austin are Robert Macintyre and Thomas Pieters - both of whom are within 10 spots of that magic 64th spot in the rankings.
Pieters has shown signs of recapturing his 2015/16 form, ranking third on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach, and having put some solid results together in January and February, highlighted by a T3 finish in Saudi Arabia. It was three years between wins number three and four for Pieters when he took home the trophy in Czechia last year. The gap between numbers four and five will be far shorter.
European Tour Rookie of the year Robert Macintyre is just three World Ranking spots away from qualification into the second WGC of 2020. The Scotsman's one professional win came in the Middle East - in Kuwait on the MENA Tour. He placed second three times in 2019 on the European Tour, and has started 2020 positively, with a T8 finish in Dubai, and a strong final round 67 at Chapultepec at the WGC-Mexico Championship. This championship's first two iterations both produced Scottish Champions (Andrew Coltart, Paul Lawrie), and the trophy could very well have a third Scottish name inscribed upon it by Sunday afternoon.
As it is a new course, the test sample for making a prediction is almost non-existent. At previous host, Doha GC, the list of winners has been mightily impressive, with some top names from the European Tour like Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace, Robert Karlsson, Thomas Bjorn and Chris Wood all taking the top spot in the last decade alone.
What we do know is that the course is relatively long. A Par-71 course standing at over 7,300 yards is going to require strength with the longest club in the bag. In addition to this, the Par-3's at Education City GC stand at 230 yards, 214 yards, 194 yards, and 179 yards - which is about the variety one might expect from a course called Education City GC. One might also expect that Par-3 scoring average could prove influential, with the apparent difficulty of the four to be played this week.
With that being said, here are The Quick Hook's picks for the 2020 Qatar Masters:
Gavin Green
Photo by European Tour
After picking Green as a potential champion last week in Oman, another good week yielded a T18 finish, and solidified the rational that he is trending well; perhaps it was just a week too early for Gavin Green.It's now eight consecutive weeks inside the Top-30 of events, which is impressive longevity in the top half of Sunday leaderboards.
So far in the 2020 season, Green has average half a stroke gained per round the category of Approach, and +0.83 strokes per round Off the Tee. If he can put this to good use with a solid week on the greens, it might just be the week Gavin Green seals his first win on Tour.
Martin Kaymer
Photo by European Tour
The two-time major champion is fourth on Tour in the category of Strokes Gained: Approach, where is gaining +1.80 strokes per round, which is almost can't fail to produce fantastic scores.
Perhaps the best indicator of how good Kaymer's iron play has been this season is his Par-3 Scoring Average. With 64 holes short holes played, Kaymer ranks second on Tour with an average of 2.89. Carrying similar form into this week would see him pick up a serious amount of shots on the field.
It's now almost six years since Kaymer blew away the field at Pinehurst to claim the US Open, which astoundingly is the last time the German won anywhere in the world. Six years without a win for someone of Kaymer's quality is quite simply bizarre, but don't be surprised if the Qatar Masters brings an end to one of golf's most inexplicable winless streaks.
George Coetzee
Photo by European Tour
Recent form and positive event history supply sufficient reasoning for this pick.Coetzee emerged from a rough start to 2020 in which he missed two consecutive cuts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Since then, the South African has put together three consecutive Top-10's across three tours (European, Challenge, Sunshine).
Qatar has also been a lucrative stop for Coetzee. He finished T2 here last year, ultimately losing out to fellow countryman Justin Harding by two strokes. In 2018, another good week saw Coetzee finish in T8. Across these eight rounds, Coetzee is 25 under par.
It may be a different course this year, but a returning to Qatar with good memories of past events here will do nothing to hurt Coetzee's chances.
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