The Commercial Bank Qatar Masters which kicks off this Thursday is celebrating its twenty-seventh edition this week. Therefore, 26 editions have already been played, the first of which was in 1998. Only one player out of the 138 present this week was at that first edition. In fact, since then, he has 24 editions under his belt and is celebrating his ‘silver anniversary’ with the tournament, his twenty-fifth appearance. He has only missed two (2017 and 2018). This is Soren Kjeldsen.
And the fact is that the layout of the Doha Golf Club has not changed that much either. It is probably one of the courses that has changed the least over time and in its history within the European circuit. In 1998 Kjeldsen played a course with official measurements of 6,756 meters, while this week’s measurements are 6,888 meters. It is certainly not a huge difference. The hole that has added the most yardage over this time has been, by far, the 15th, one of the toughest on the course, which in 1998 was played as a ‘longish’ par 4 of 430 meters and today is a monster of 476 meters. However, there are eleven holes that have barely modified their yardage or have not changed at all. The Doha Golf Club, whose design is for many professionals the best of the entire DP World Tour desert swing, withstands the test of time well.
Manu Elvira is facing this challenge for the first time in his career. He is the only one of the thirteen Spaniards present at the event who is making his debut at the Doha Golf Club. Soren could confirm to him that things have not changed that much since that 1998, although the greens did change significantly at the time after a deep renovation. More than a quarter of a century has passed, but the situation of the Spaniard, today, and that of the Dane, in 1998, has some similarities. Manu, for example, is playing his ninth DP World Tour tournament this week; Kjeldsen, on the other hand, was also a newcomer and was then playing his third European circuit tournament.
Of the Spaniards who are in Doha this year, Álvaro Quirós is the one who made his debut earlier in this venue. He did so in 2007 and that was the eighth European circuit tournament he played. Quirós is playing his 16th edition of the tournament this week, the same as Pablo Larrazábal, although the Catalan made his debut later, in 2009. It is not necessary to remember that the Guadiaro native won the 2009 edition and immediately finished second in 2010 and 2011… He is vying with Jorge Campillo for the honorary title of best Spaniard in Qatar, as the Extremaduran also boasts a victory and two second places.
Just yesterday, during dinner, Álvaro was telling Manu that on this course he has seen all kinds of weather, referring to the meteorology. The wind, for example, is often the protagonist. Without going any further, it is going to be this week, especially in the first two rounds, where gusts of up to forty kilometers per hour are expected. It also tends to be colder in Doha than in Dubai when it’s time. Even a Nordic like Kjeldsen has had to go out to play more than once with a woolen hat in this quarter of a century. This week we will also see some woolen hats among the players who go out to play earlier (the first tee-off is at 6.15 in the morning, local time, and the temperature at that point will be around five degrees).
The younger of the Elviras will not have lacked information. He has all the information he wants in the very hotel room he shares with his brother Nacho, who is not short of appearances at the Doha Golf Club, as he is going to play the tournament for the tenth time this year. Let’s not forget, moreover, that Nacho was third in the last edition, that of 2023, and second in that of 2019. His thing, by the way, is crazy: in his first round at the Doha Golf Club, back in 2014, he signed a 66, which to this day remains his best result on this course, only matched on one occasion. Kjeldsen’s record is not bad either: he has played a total of 81 competition rounds at the Doha Golf Club, but in the second of them, back in 1998, he signed a 67 and has only been able to beat this record on two occasions. So much for the saying that experience is the mother of science. Manu should take good note.
In short, Kjeldsen is playing his 694th tournament on the European circuit this week. He is 48 years old and aims to surpass the record recently set by David Howell of 723 tournaments, although we will still see the Englishman here and there. Soren needed 159 attempts, tournaments, to win for the first time on the European circuit, but something tells us that Manu Elvira will not need as many. Soren has never won in Qatar and, in fact, his best results in Doha date back to the last century (he was 2nd in 1999 and 7th in 2000; he never made it back into the final top ten). We will see how and what is the story that Manu begins to write this very week.
