South African Louis Oosthuizen will be looking to continue his trademark January success when he returns from a seven-week break at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The 2010 Open Champion has won his first tournament of the calendar year in four of the last five years and is a remarkable 74 under par for those five events. The 33 year old attributes that statistic to being well rested and hungry again after a lengthy spell away from the course, this time spending a fortnight in Namibia with his family during the break.
In order to continue the trend, Oosthuizen will have to overcome a strong field at Doha Golf Club, which includes compatriot Branden Grace, the defending champion who finished tied fifth in Abu Dhabi last week, and Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who won here in 2014 and was runner-up the year before.
Grace’s victory 12 months ago proved the springboard to a terrific season which yielded two top-four finishes in Major Championships, and he enters the week one place shy of breaking into the world’s top ten for the first time.
Louis Oosthuizen
“I didn’t touch my golf clubs after the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the beginning of December until last week. The first round was very shaky, but then I picked up quickly. After a good break, you want to get back out on the course again. I think with the schedules we have these days, you lose that a bit, so it feels good to be hungry again to go and play, and it doesn’t matter what you shoot. I guess the secret is being well rested. I had a really good week of practice and I’m feeling good. I’ve got new clubs in the bag and I’m ready to start the season.
“I like the golf course here and I like playing in windy conditions. I always love coming back and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Branden Grace
“I’m so close now so hopefully I can put in another good week and get over the line. It’s something you dream about as a young player, being in the world’s top ten, so it would be huge for me to achieve that. Last year was a big step in the right direction for me. It didn’t just lift me up the World Ranking, it got me into a lot of tournaments and my career has excelled ever since that. It really put me back on the map again and it’s a week I’ll never forget.
“Obviously I’m going to try to defend the title as well as I can. The form feels good and I’ve had five top tens coming into this week. I’m in a really good frame of mind and I’m pushing for a win. Coming back to a place like this and getting those positive vibes and fond memories, hopefully that can be the difference between a top five and getting the win.”
Sergio Garcia
“I feel very comfortable on this golf course. It caught my eye the first time I played it and I’ve played it pretty much every year since. So I obviously like what I see out there, and when you can play on one of those courses where you feel comfortable, usually you seem to do fairly well.
“It’s getting windy and it’s supposed to get even windier. So it’s not going to be easy but the course looks in very, very good shape and it’s always a good week to start my year. I’m obviously looking forward to it.”
