Qatar Masters 2013

Why are they starting early this week?

ESPN golf will help you, Bustino.

Yahoo leaderboard lists the results as well Bustino

BREAKING with tradition, the 16th edition of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters will start on Wednesday and end on Saturday instead of the traditional Thursday start and Sunday finish.

The change had been made taking into account the weekends in the Gulf region in order to attract more spectators to the prestigious tournament, to be held at the Doha Golf Club from January 23 to 26.

The Qatar Golf Association (QGA) officials told a Press conference last week the change was being implemented on a trial basis and could be made permanent from next year onwards if it proves a success.

QGA President Hassan Al Nuaimi hoped the shift would not adversely affect the tournament.

“We had requested the European Tour for a Saturday finish as we wanted to arrest the fall in crowd turnout on the final day and it has agreed to it. We also hope it wouldn’t clash with prime-time television coverage in Europe,” said Al Nuaimi.

oh, and tour-tips has every stat you need

When looking at past winners of the Qatar Masters the first thing that looks very obvious is that it takes a classy golfer to win and shock winners just don’t happen. The last three winners alone had amassed twenty five European Tour wins between them before their respective wins so we are looking for a multiple winner towards the top of the market. Also course form seems vital to me with multiple winners and lots of top five/ten finishes amongst those taking the trophy. There does also seem to be some strange link between winners at Gleneagles and winners at Doha - quite why I am not entirely sure - maybe we can put it in the same category as the Annandale/PGA West link - it is what it is! With those things on board I thought it unlikely that I would find anyone at a decent price but I think the books have underestimated one player.
Paul Casey has eleven European tour wins to his name though none in the past two years - this was largely due to a foot injury in 2011 and a snowboarding accident twelve months ago. Since that accident he has taken the opportunity to rebuild his game and at the tail end of last season it started to pay dividends. This year in his two starts his ball striking has been exemplary but he has been let down by a cold putter - if a few more putts drop this week he could be in contention. As for his course form well it doesn’t look pretty - four missed cuts and a 5th in 2010 when he tied for the lead entering the final day. Before the start in 2010 he wrote in his blog

"This week I’m in Doha for the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy. I’ve played Doha three times and missed the cut three times. I like the course but for some reason I have not played well. My results in Doha don’t make sense, it’s the same course designer as Abu Dhabi and a lot of green layouts look the same and I have the length. I thought about not playing, but I want to play golf and make the cut”

It looks like even he was bemused by his lack of form at the track but I have some thoughts which might explain why. In 2011 when he missed the cut he wrote

“Last week was tiring and I think every time you win, it takes a bit of energy. During the week I’ve tried to save all my energy so I’ll be ready going into this event, there’s no reason why I can’t play well and give myself a chance to win another tournament.” That might well be the key - he had won the week before in Bahrain, in 2007 he won the week before in Abu Dhabi, in 2008 he was in poor form, in 2009 again he had won the week before in Abu Dhabi. Maybe that is the reason for three of his missed cuts here - he had won the week before and was mentally tired.
With the Gleneagles link then we certainly have a qualifier in Casey - in six starts he won it twice. Last week he was around 28/1 with Rory and Tiger in the field - this week at 40/1 his price is very fair 0.5 ew.

I have had one other small bet in the first round leader market and that is on Richard Finch. In his six starts here he has been 6th, 2nd and 5th after the opening day and handles breezy conditions very well. If the Gleneagles link is to be believed he also has a 1st and 8th there in this market so is worth a small speculative play 0.1 ew 150/1 (125/1 OK)

Three for me

Rafa Cabrera Bello - Desert form including winning in Dubai last year and 3rd in Qatar '11 after opening with 77, Top 10 in GIR in last 4 events and finished 69-68 last week.

Stephen Gallacher - 2nd in Dubai last year along with three top 20s in Desert Swing 2011, four top 6s in last 10 starts and ranked no.1 in GIR in 3 of his last 5 events.

Richard Green - hit ball much better than 23rd place suggested last week, putted better over weekend and finished with a 67. No rust after playing in Australia over winter including top 10s in Australian PGA and Masters

added a couple small bets on first round leader

johan edfors150 ew
brett rumford 100

I agree lowfields. Hoey has played well here before, does well in a stiff breeze, and is a cracking price. On @ 470.

Gone for 6 players in this which is probably a bit much but been tempted by some nice prices on offer for some decent players.

Paul Casey - He's been threatening for a while now and if he went in this week unbacked and won,i'd be raging with myself.It's been written elsewhere on this thread but it does seem like a cold putter has stopped him turning decent finishes in the first 2 weeks of the season into top notch ones.Only one decent finish here in five attempts but not going to let that put me off.

Thomas Bjorn - Has a really good record here and had a good finish in the first week of the new season down in South Africa.Poor effort last week but i'm willing to forgive that as i think being a key member of the Ryder Cup selection committee took a lot of his attention and focus last week.He can just concentrate on the golf this week.

Rafael Cabrera Bello - Has one good effort here and seems to enjoy desert golf in general.Had a good weekend in last weeks event and also played nicely the first week of the season down in South Africa on a course that didn't really play to his strengths.

Richie Ramsay - Played nicely last week on a course that he had awful previous form on.Says he felt ill during that last round also,so that poor round is excusable.Doesn't have much in the book round here either but he's on the cusp of the worlds top 50 and i think getting inside that magic number and all that comes with it is driving him on,particularly Augusta.Spends a fair bit of the year practicing in Georgia and he'd love to be back there for The Masters.

Keith Horne - Always like a player or two at big prices and i think he's worth a punt at the prices.Bet him last week as well and although he didn't pull up any trees,i'll give him another go this week on the strength of two top 20s here the last two years.

Johan Edfors - Made a couple of fleeting appearances on the leaderboard last week before finishing well down the field in the end.Finished top 5 here 5 years ago and i'm hoping he can replicate that this year at a big price.A lengthy course like this should suit him in theory and he'll want to bank a nice early cheque to avoid any repeat of last season when he was very close to losing his tour card.


Good luck.

I was close to backing gallacher i defo would have if i saw the 1000s

ok $100 free bet gods. casey, lawrie or stenson?

hmm...stenson???

few more hours to decide. get the feeling this could be like my 'jeev or thongchai' dilemma couple weeks back where i chose jeev. i should just back them all.

luxbet decided for me which was the way i was leaning anyway due to all the empirical evidence for stenson starting well this year. he is actually 23's on luxbet!!!

lawrie is 34's and casey is 41's. so the price is right for stenson in relation to betfair (23 to lay).

also small dosh

$6 on hed @ 230's and
$5 on fichardt @ 260's . that's for you miss anomoly .

on casey and lawrie watch.

i have also noticed that stenson doesnt seem to get on with it on the back nine of his first rounds. he has good front nines and then fizzles out on the back nine somewhat. lets see if again that is true or he gets to -6. one time.

not for me. not til couple hours. i'm in perth australia. foxtel.

watching here sky s 2,ud get a link

Don't know how to quote it, but I like the $5 on Fichardt Ron

Kaymer and Rose continuing their impressive start to the year so far today.

How did duffner miss that

I think Justin got Duff info from that rules offical. the following was added to rule 18-2b, it does not have to be wind to not get a penalty? a ball can certainly move a miniute or two after it has come to rest without the player touching it.

A new Exception is added that exonerates the player from penalty if his ball moves after it has been addressed when it is known or virtually certain that he did not cause the ball to move. For example, if it is a gust of wind that moves the ball after it has been addressed, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position.

JR almost certainly caused the ball to move by grounding the club. Unintentional maybe, but with grainy grown greens (say that when you are pi55ed) it will happen.

Still go on to gag up here so I dunno what he is worried about