Rozner raring to go for Doha title defence

Defending champion Antoine Rozner returns to the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters hopeful he can be inspired to create new memories as he goes in search of a third DP World title.

The Frenchman holed an incredible 60-foot putt for birdie on the final green 12 months ago to finish one shot clear of Guido Migliozzi, Darren Fichardt and Gaganjeet Bhullar at Education City Golf Club.

Despite a switch in venue, with the revamped Championship Course at Doha Golf Club playing host this week following a two-year absence, Rozner is full of positivity as the tournament celebrates its 25th staging.

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“It was a once-in-a-lifetime putt to win a tournament,” he said, reflecting on his success last year.

“You don’t get a putt to win a tournament every week in our job but to have a 60-foot putt to win is even more special, so it was definitely the biggest putt of my career.”

The victory was his second in the space of six events and came just three months after his maiden win at the AVIV Dubai Championship.

However, since then the 29-year-old, who graduated from the Challenge Tour in 2019, has struggled to produce his best golf on a consistent basis, making just one top-10 finish on Tour.

“I think the more you play on this Tour, the more you realise how hard it is to win a golf tournament.

“It is so competitive nowadays. I’ve only been here two years but hopefully I’ll be here in ten or 15 years, and I’ll tell myself what you’ve done is very, very good and winning a tournament is so hard.

“Every single part of your game has to be perfect to win a golf tournament, I think that is just what happened those two weeks and to do it that quickly was very big, and I think, looking back, very impressive.”

Now into his third season on the DP World Tour, Rozner says he has seen enough in his game from making the cut in his last three tournament appearances to suggest he can enjoy a strong week.

“I think the margin of result is just so small. Last week I came 25th \[at the Steyn City Championship\] but I was only two shots away from a top ten finish and I feel like I gave up so many shots on the course, silly shots as well.

“It is just so, so close to great results and I feel like my game is actually very good, it has been very solid the last three weeks and I’m really looking forward to this week, bring some good vibes again.

“It is very close to being good again.”