Caddie Fanny Sunneson and Henrik Stenson have a great record in Doha Golf Club event.

Henrik Stenson (and Fanny) bidding

to retain Qatar Masters title

PRESS RELEASE
Doha (QATAR): Europe may have lost to the USA in the Ryder Cup at Valhalla but many of its players will be out in force when the 2009 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy, gets underway at Doha Golf Club on January 22.
Henrik Stenson, Oliver Wilson, Soren Hansen, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia Paul Casey and Miguel Angel Jimenez were all in Nick Faldo’s side that lost 16½ to 11½ to the Paul Azinger-led Americans. And the Europeans will no doubt be reminded of that defeat by a certain Boo Weekley, the colourful American who will be making his Middle East debut in Qatar.
“The line-up for the twelfth staging of the tournament is just getting better and better,” said Hassan Al Nuami, President of the Qatar Golf Association (QGA), organisers of the US$ 2.5 million European Tour event in association with the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Commercialbank.
“We’ve already got most of the European Ryder Cup side confirmed and expect to announce or two more as we countdown to hosting what will be one of the best fields in our short history. Henrik Stenson is also a former champion here so he knows all about Doha Golf Club.”
Under normal circumstances, the big-hitting Swede - currently ranked world number eight - would be returning to Doha as defending champion. Unfortunately, his final round 65 was eclipsed twelve months ago by a course record 61 that saw Australian Adam Scott take the title.

“It's not often you go out and shoot 65 and lose by three to somebody who played in front of you,” said Stenson.
“Last year, I knew I had to do something and I birdied the third and fourth and felt like I was going forward. But I just saw he was in front all the time and I was trying to catch up. When somebody is playing like that, he’s in the zone and just going forward.”
In 2006, Stenson lifted the famous Mother of Pearl trophy thanks to score of fifteen under par, three ahead of runner-up Paul Broadhurst. A year later he tied for seventh and last year had to settle for the runners-up spot behind Scott despite shooting an impressive seventeen under par.
“I like the golf course,” he added. “I think it suits my game when I'm playing well. In the past, I've been able to take advantage on a few of the holes and hit some good tee shots and make it a bit shorter that way. Normally I'm a pretty good grinder when it gets to tough conditions and that's certainly something you need to be able to do around there.”
The 7,388-yard course at Doha Golf Club is in prime condition for the arrival of the 120-man field. “Thanks to the recent good weather we’ve had in Qatar, I think the course is in remarkable shape and will certainly be appreciated by the players,” said Commercialbank Group CEO Andrew Stevens.
More information on the 2009 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy is available at the official website http://www.qatar-masters.com/.