Major men ready for return at Qatar Masters

FormerOpen champions Darren Clarke and Paul Lawrie will head a strongchallenge from some of European Tour’s most experienced players whenthey are joined by Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn and his vice-captain,Robert Karlsson, at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.A strong fieldwill once again assemble at Doha Golf Club for the 21st edition of theevent, which boasts a star-studded list of former winners including the1999 Open champion Lawrie, who has twice triumphed in the Qataricapital.The Scot’s first win came in the early stages of a seasonwhich would define his career, when he soared to a seven-stroke victoryin February 1999, before mounting a late charge to famously defeat Jeanvan de Velde to the Open Championship later that season.Clarke,meanwhile, plays the event for the seventh time but for the first timesince 2011, when he finished in tied-12th before lifting the Claret Juglater that season courtesy of a dominant display at Royal St George’s.TheNorthern Irishman played in the inaugural edition of the event back in1998, when he claimed his best finish to date in the event, atied-ninth, even as Andrew Coltart earned his maiden European Tourvictory.The 2018 Ryder Cup captain Bjorn will land in Qatarconfident of a strong performance on a course upon which he has played13 times, and claimed victory in 2011.The great Dane has made theweekend in ten of those 13 appearances, with two top-ten finishes to addto his win seven years ago. He has been playing his way back into formearly in the 2018 campaign with eight of his ten rounds thus far thisseason under par, six of them sub-70.While a second victory in Qatarwill undoubtedly be at the forefront of Bjorn’s mind in Doha, hisfierce competitive spirit will also mean he always has one eye onSeptember’s showpiece in Paris as he leads Team Europe into battleagainst Jim Furyk’s USA team.His close friend and former EuropeanTour number one Karlsson is the only vice-captain Bjorn has selectedthus far, and the Swede will also be present in Qatar for his 17thappearance in an event which he has also won.Karlsson emergedvictorious in 2010 after finishing two strokes clear of Spain’s AlvaroQuiros for the tenth of his 11 European Tour titles.Having made thecut in 15 of his 17 appearances at Doha Golf Club, he will surely beconfident of rekindling the kind of form which earned him two Ryder Cupappearances as a player.Other former Ryder Cup stars in the fieldfor this year’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters include Englishmen ChrisWood and Andy Sullivan, who appeared in the most recent contest atHazeltine in 2016, while Nicolas Colsaerts – a star of the famousMiracle at Medinah in 2012 – also plays.Jamie Donaldson, whofamously struck the winning shot of the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, isalso joined in the field by his teammates for that triumph under PaulMcGinley, Victor Dubuisson and Stephen Gallacher.