Tournament: 2026 Qatar Masters
Venue: Doha GC, Doha, Qatar
Prize Fund: USD $2,750,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 9 of 42
International Swing: Tournament 4 of 7
Race to Dubai Points: 3,500
Hashtag: #QatarMasters
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Tournament preview
Pádraig Harrington will make his 500th appearance on the DP World Tour when he tees it up in the 29th edition of the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club this week.
The three-time Major winner will become the 50th player in Tour history to reach that milestone, more than 30 years after making his debut at the 1995 Smurfit European Open.
Harrington has won 43 professional titles in his illustrious career – 15 of which have come on the DP World Tour – and he has represented Europe six times in the Ryder Cup. The Irishman has also become prolific on the over-50s circuit, winning 11 times on the PGA TOUR Champions, and is the reigning U.S. Senior Open and ISPS HANDA Senior Open champion.
Race to Dubai leader Jayden Schaper is looking to continue his remarkable form in Qatar this week. The South African won the Opening Swing after claiming back-to-back titles at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and he is joined by nearest challenger Patrick Reed.
Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, registered his first Rolex Series win at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic followed by a runner up finish at last week’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship to strengthen his position at the top of the International Swing rankings.
There are eight past champions in the field including Rikuya Hoshino (2024), Ewen Ferguson (2022), Antoine Rozner (2021), Jorge Campillo (2020), Justin Harding (2019), Eddie Pepperell (2018), Chris Wood (2013) and Darren Fichardt (2003).
Pepperell is hoping to lean on fond memories of his victory here in 2018, while Fichardt will tee it up in his 23rd Qatar Masters and 17th in a row.
The Qatar Masters is the ninth event on the 2026 Race to Dubai and the fourth event on the International Swing. It is also the fourth consecutive event to be played in the Middle East after the Dubai Invitational, Hero Dubai Desert Classic and Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.
The winner of the International Swing will gain entry into every event in Phase Two of the season – the Back 9 – while also securing a US$200,000 bonus, with a spot at the Genesis Scottish Open also available to the highest player in the Rankings not already exempt.
Player Quotes
Pádraig Harrington: I’m delighted to be back in Doha for the first time since 2003. It’s nice to come back to a venue you haven’t been for a long time to see the difference and what a great golf course it is. It’s in phenomenal condition and it’s a joy to be back. It’s amazing to see how much the course has changed and they’re putting back tees on nearly every hole which kind of suits it because the rough is heavy, the greens are firm and it’s a nice challenge.
500 appearances isn’t something you envisage or plan for but it’s nice to get there. I’ve probably played close to 800 tournaments in my 30-year professional career. I started a bit later than most people because I didn’t turn pro until I was 24. I’m happy to be out here playing on the DP World Tour and I’m still enjoying it.
I couldn’t have dreamt of the career that I’ve had. I’m quite an optimist and that’s what I love about golf it always gives you that hope that you’re going to find the secret and I’m still doing that today.
I still have a pure love for the game. I’m fascinated by it, I enjoy it, I love coaching and thinking about the game. 20 years ago we pretended we weren’t golf nerds but I’m as biggest a golf nerd as you can get. I’m here now to try and be competitive and I know the only way I can do that is to enjoy it.
Jayden Schaper: If you go looking to the past, I think a lot of the South Africans have had quite a bit of success around here. I personally enjoy it, I think from tee to green it’s one of the better courses we play throughout the year.
It’s my fourth week in a row but it’s nice to be back out in Qatar, this golf course, I’ve got some good memories and some nice results around here. I had a slow start at the Dubai Invitational but played some pretty good golf for the first event of the year.
Then top four at Desert Classic which is always a great event to play, probably one of my favourite weeks of the year. Just a nice strong start, especially after the start of the season. Last week I struggled with the golf course, but it’s been a nice strong start.
You have your goals that you want to achieve. You want to finish as high up the Race to Dubai as possible and earn one of those PGA TOUR cards at the end of the year. You’ve got to look at winning the Race to Dubai and finishing as high up as possible. It’s pretty much week by week.
Eddie Pepperell: It’s always nice to come back to Qatar and Doha Golf Club. I won here in 2018, and the course continues to get better each year. It’s nice to come back to a venue where you’ve had past success and I can refamiliarize myself with tee shots and iron shots I hit from certain positions that week. This is a course that historically I have felt quite comfortable on.
A lot can happen coming down the final stretch on this golf course. There’s an eagle opportunity on 16 if it’s a kind wind, 17 is a good little par three and you can also reach 18 in two so there can be some big swings on the leaderboards coming in.
The condition of the course is immaculate, and everyone is very happy. I’m trying to iron out a few things in my swing and take some of those feels onto the golf course. It’s been such an odd period for me over the past 12 months, and my irons have always been the key. Confidence is a funny thing but hopefully I’m on the right track.
Darren Fichardt: It was very important. A big surprise, but it was obviously awesome to win here. From my first time out here, I think it was 2000, I came out here and there is such a huge South African population, so we’d have South African braiis on the Tuesday.
There’s a huge community and a lot of support, obviously. What’s special about this place all those years ago is there was one hotel. Everything else was desert. It has developed quite a lot since then.
