Record US$2.2 million Prize-Money on Offer in Doha
Dubai (UAE): Fresh from his runners-up spot in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, Darren Clarke has confirmed he will compete for the richest prize in the history of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters next month.
And Clarke, who captured the hearts of the sporting world with a courageous performance in this year’s Ryder Cup, will be joined by great friend and former European No. 1 Lee Westwood in the hunt for a record winner’s cheque of US$366,660.
Clarke and Westwood will join fellow stars Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia in an event that will be the richest in its ten-year history with a total prize-fund of US$2.2 million.
"I’m delighted to announce that the tenth anniversary of the Qatar Masters will offer record prize-money of US$2.2 million as well as the strongest line-up in the history of the tournament," said Commercialbank of Qatar CEO Andrew Stevens. "In association with the Qatar Golf Association, we believe we have attracted a field that will take the Commercialbank Qatar Masters to the next level."
With Clarke, Westwood, Garcia and Goosen already confirmed and even more big names in the pipeline, Qatar’s PGA European Tour event – co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour – looks set to mount a serious challenge as the Middle East’s premier date on the golfing calendar.
Clarke and Westwood will both line-up at Doha Golf Club from January 25-28 just a few months after both starred as ‘wild cards’ in Europe’s magnificent win over the US at the K Club. For Clarke, it was a well-documented, emotional roller-coaster following the death of his wife just weeks earlier.
"It certainly helped having Lee at my side because he’s always been like a brother to me," said Clarke, who took maximum three points from his three outings including two in the four-ball company of Westwood. "I felt sorry for Lee at the Ryder Cup because so much media attention was focused on me. But he won four points out of five and played fantastically well."
In 2000, the ever-popular Clarke became the first European to win one of the World Golf Championships (WGC) events, capturing the $1 million first prize in the World Match Play Championship, defeating Tiger Woods in the final. Three years ago, the 38-year-old from Dungannon became only the second man after Woods to win two WGC events with victory in the WGC-NEC Invitational – a win that helped him to second place in the PGA European Tour Order of Merit.
Westwood, who has won 16 times on the PGA European Tour and was Order of Merit winner in 2000, is another crowd favourite and the two are sure to be well supported by the Doha galleries.
"Darren and Lee are two of the best European players of the past 25 years," said Commercialbank Qatar Masters Tournament Manager Chris Myers. "With Ryder Cup stars like Sergio, Darren and Lee joining Retief Goosen in the line-up and many more to come, I have no doubt the 2007 Commercialbank Qatar Masters will be the biggest and best in the tournament’s history."
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