Big hitting and a high quality short game by Spain’s Alvaro Quiros took the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, leaving South African Loius Oosthuizen to come second for the second time in as many weeks. Four rounds in the 60’s saw Quiros take his third European Tour victory.

Round one saw the lead tied between Henrik Stenson, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Andrew Coltart. The experience was a welcome one for Englishman Coltart who spent a few years in the wilderness after taking part in the Ryder Cup in 1999. Round two saw Oosthuizen take a three shot lead at 12 under from Coltart and Quiros but it was a 64 on Saturday that saw Quiros reel in the deficit and go on to stretch out his own 3 shot lead.

While the course at the Doha Golf Club is a respectable 7388 yards, the wide open fairways and minimal hazards would always mean that it would always favor the bigger hitters. The final pairing of Quiros and Oosthuizen was possibly the best example of this as both were booming the ball well over 300 yards with Quiros threatening the 350 yard marker on occasions.

Quiros and Oosthuizen exchange the lead with nerves getting the better of both players and they were joined for a time by Stenson but Quiros then took control,  coming home in 32. Quiros is one of the longest hitters on the European Tour and averaged 314.8 yards at this event  but achieving 84.7% of greens in regulation and only taking 28.5 putts per round made him impossible to catch.