Jorge Campillo is ready to tread new ground this week as he defends a European Tour title for the first time in his career at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
“I’ve had a long time to think about the win. I was playing good and was ready to go to India to try and win another golf tournament, but that was stopped because of the pandemic. It was hard to come back after the break.”
“The play-off stands out the most. It was such a great play-off. Besides all the putts I made, I hit some good shots too. David played great and I was glad I made those putts to keep up in the play-off.”
The Spaniard recorded his second European Tour win when he defeated Scotland’s David Drysdale in a thrilling five-hole play-off at Education City Golf Club last season – holing three putts from more than 20 feet on the extra holes.
🇶🇦 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 9, 2021
⛳ Education City Golf Club
Our home this week 👌#QatarMasters pic.twitter.com/oIpIyfZmVV
The 34-year-old was unable to defend the Trophée Hassan II trophy he won in 2019 after the tournament was cancelled last year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, with the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters proving to be the final European Tour event before the enforced hiatus.
“It’s different (being defending champion), I’ve never been in this position before because the other tournament I won (Trophée Hassan II) I couldn’t defend it. It’s new for me. I have had most of the attention this week, but I’m fine with it. It’s nice to be the defending champion.”
Former champions Darren Fichardt, Justin Harding and Eddie Pepperell are also teeing it up in Doha this week, as are 2016 Ryder Cup players Thomas Pieters and Andy Sullivan.
“I haven’t done a great deal at home,” said Pepperell. “I’ve been kindly allowed to practice, but I haven’t done much in the way of putting or chipping or played once – so we’ll have to see. But my body feels good and it’s just nice to get away from home for a week to Qatar.
“I was never really much of a goal-setter but I’m having to remind myself that I’m a golf professional. To have so much uncertainty, it’s wearing me down a bit. I’m just looking forward to getting some sort of normalcy back and then hope these things will come back to me. The longer you spend out of that habit the harder it can be to get back into it. I need to get competitive again, become a golf professional again and make the best of the rest of my career.” Both Pieters and Sullivan have made encouraging starts to the 2021 Race to Dubai, with Sullivan finishing in a share of 25 th at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first Rolex Series event of the year, while Pieters finished tenth at the Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers. The Belgian has also missed just two cuts in his last 28 European Tour starts.
Rising star Rasmus Højgaard arrives in Qatar on the back of top ten finishes at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and Saudi International and from making his debut in a World Golf Championships event last month.
“I struggled at the WGC at The Concession, I think I got caught up in thinking about the result there,” said Højgaard. ” It’s a big event, you want to play well. I was thinking more about that instead of producing good golf shots. That will be my focus this week.
“I want to win as much as possible, but it’s more important that I keep improving my game and that should produce good results and more wins, I hope. It feels good to be back in Qatar, it’s a good course and I enjoyed playing it last year.”
