Inside Doha Golf Club: Ernie Els’ Course Guide

<strong>By Will Pearson, europeantour.com<br />
at Doha Golf Club</strong>

On the eve of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, europeantour.com caught up with 2005 winner and four-time Major Champion Ernie Els to get his thoughts on ever present host venue, Doha Golf Club.

Home to the event since its inception in 1998, the Championship Course at Doha Golf Club is renowned as a testing, long and windswept layout, and is playing this week at 7,400 yards to a par of 72.

Unveiled in 1997, the layout was the brainchild of celebrated golf architect Peter Harradine, who has designed more than 160 courses around the world, and features eight strategically positioned lakes, 65 giant cacti and a number of striking limestone rock formations which contrast with the verdant fairways and pale desert beyond.

Ten years ago, then the eighth edition of the Qatar Masters and now traditionally the second part of The European Tour’s annual Desert Swing, South African legend Els triumphed in his first appearance at Doha Golf Club.

“I remember I shot 65 in that final round,” recalled Els, who has also won three Dubai Desert Classic titles and, with a total of four, jointly holds The European Tour record for most wins in the Middle East with Henrik Stenson.

“I hadn’t really been in it at all, I’d just made the cut on the nose on the Friday, and obviously had a pretty good weekend – especially Sunday. I was quite fortunate to win, in a way, as I seem to remember Henrik Stenson missed a couple of putts coming in.

“But it’s a great course and a great tournament to have won, certainly.”

<strong>A Maturing Course</strong>

“A lot of the course has matured nicely,” Els continued. “Some of the trees have grown up and this year is definitely the best I’ve ever seen the course. I think they’ve changed the greenkeepers here and I must say it’s looking in wonderful shape.

“The greens are firm but running wonderfully and there is a little bit of run on the fairways which is good too.

“It’s such a brilliantly matured course and area now, so it’s always a fun place to play.”

<strong>The Wind</strong>

At just 338 feet above sea level at its highest point, Qatar is susceptible to the wind and with much of the course open and surrounded by desert scrub, the gusts and breezes of Doha Golf Club often present their own challenge, as Els attests.

“The wind has been blowing quite a lot in the build-up so let’s hope it might have now blown itself out,” joked Els. “It seems like the wind gets up more in Qatar than in any of the other Emirate states so that certainly plays a factor when competing here.

“There are some really good par fours into the wind here where you have hit long irons and almost links-type shots and there can also be a lot of cross-winds too.

“When the wind blows, this course can be quite a beast, so that certainly makes scoring more difficult.”

<strong>The Greens</strong>

“There are some big green complexes here and sometimes putting the ball in the wind from long distances is tricky,” Els reflected. “They tuck the flags away too sometimes so you know you are probably going to have to do some lag-putting to do and some short-to-longish putts to hole out for par.

“So you have to be aware that your ball might be moving around in the wind a bit, get your touch in and get your putting on.”

<strong>The Key Holes</strong>

“I think<strong>18</strong>is a reachable par five for the longer hitters so they certainly have an advantage on the closing hole with a chance to get up in two and go for eagle,” Els continued. “Some of the par fours are also key.

“On the front nine you have the<strong>fifth</strong>, which is a really long par four, you have the<strong>sixth</strong>, which is a really long par four. So minimising damage there is key.

“On the back nine you have some scoreable par fours. The<strong>16th</strong>, with its rock quarry in the middle, is driveable so you are mostly looking for eagle on that hole but we have still seen guys make bogey or double bogey there too so there are a number of places coming in where things can swing.”

<strong>How it played last year</strong>

In the 2014 edition of the Qatar Masters, Sergio Garcia and Mikko Ilonen were left tied on 16 under par following 72 holes after which the Spaniard prevailed on the third additional play-off hole.

As Els suggested, the 488-yard par four sixth ranked the hardest in last year’s event at an average of 4.26 with only 31 birdies over the four rounds, while players laboured to 113 bogeys and 11 double bogeys or worse.

At the other end of the spectrum, the iconic 16th hole, just 307 yards from the back tees, yielded three eagles and 185 birdies at an average of 3.58.