Garcia wants to be next Spanish winner of Qatar Masters

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ALAN EWENS
Superstar Sergio Garcia will be looking to keep the Spanish flag at the top of the leader board when he joins the defending champion and fellow Spaniard Alvaro Quiros at the 2010 Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy, next month.
Twenty-nine year-old Garcia was one of several Spanish players waiting to congratulate Quiros at the end of his championship-winning round at Doha Golf Club earlier this year.
And nothing would give the world number ten more pleasure so early in the season as lifting the prestigious Mother of Pearl trophy – although the ritual champion’s soaking in the lake fringing the 18th green may not be so appealing.
The 2010 season is also important to Garcia – one of the most popular players in the world game – for the not so small matter of the Ryder Cup Matches which get underway later in the year at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales.
“Sergio is such a passionate and charismatic player in events like the Ryder Cup, which is why he is also one of the most popular players we see competing each year in Qatar,” said Qatar Golf Association (QGA) President Hassan Al Nuami.
Along with the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and title sponsors Commercialbank, the QGA will help stage the tournament at Doha Golf Club from January 28-31.
“This will be the fourth year in a row he has played in Qatar, which maintains our track record of being able to entice the very best players in the world to Doha Golf Club.”
Now in its thirteenth year, the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, Presented by Dolphin Energy, will see a 120-strong field fight it out over the tough 7,388-yard Doha Golf Club with its unpredictable desert winds.
“The tournament has rightly become Qatar’s premier sporting occasion,” said Commercialbank Group CEO Andrew Stevens.
“Every year we try to introduce new players to the region as well as provide a field as strong as any on the European Tour. Sergio Garcia is one of the most successful and admired players in the world and we look forward to welcoming him and the other big players and rising stars back to Doha Golf Club.”