Qatar Masters 2025 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Japan's Rikuya Hoshino won the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club last year but will not be back to defend his title.

After runner-up finishes in his first two starts of the season in Australia at the end of 2023, Hoshino went one better in Doha. 

Those three performances went a long way towards helping him secure a coveted PGA Tour card and he is now focusing his energies on the other side of the Pond. He will not be the only 2024 winner who will not be around to defend a title this year and in many ways that is a real shame. But given the choice between competing on the DP World Tour or challenging for the millions of dollars on offer each week on the PGA Tour it is hardly surprising that those who are able to would opt for the latter option.

Hoshino, who earned $425,000, was the first Japanese winner of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters since its inception in 1998. He also followed Isao Aoki, Hideki Matsuyama and 2023 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Ryo Hisatsune as the fourth player from his country to win on the DP World Tour.

He said: “I'm honoured to win at this wonderful tournament. I was second at the last two Australian tournaments so I'm so happy to finally win. Of course I was nervous but I just tried to keep enjoying it."

So we are looking for a new champion.

I was hugely impressed with Alejandro Del Rey in winning the recent Ras Al Khaimah Championship at Al Hamra Golf Club. What stood out for me was his ability to get up and down for par. He would be the first to admit that he drove the ball pretty poorly. But his iron play and short game were sensational - as you would expect from a Spaniard. He will like Doha GC because it is far less punishing than Al Hamra.

The son of a professional footballer, Del Rey won the Spanish U-16 and U-18 titles and was a member of the Spanish national team at the age of 14. He was a key member of the side which won the European Amateur Team Championship in 2017 alongside fellow DP World Tour members Adri Arnaus, Manuel Elvira and Angel Hidalgo. He also represented Spain at the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy and the International Team at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup.

Del Rey attended Arizona State University from 2016 to 2020, winning four times in his collegiate career with the Sun Devils.

He won on only his third start after turning professional in 2020, claiming the Open de Mireabell Or title on the Alps Tour. He joined the Challenge Tour in 2021 and earned his first victory the following year at the Big Green Egg German Challenge, ending the year 22nd on the Road to Mallorca Rankings. It meant he narrowly missing out on his DP World Tour card but he earned his playing rights at Qualifying School after finishing fifth at Final Stage.

Two former champions may well be worth a little flutter. Jorge Campillo won in 2020 and lost in a playoff in 2023 and this is a course he loves coming back to.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

As a student at Indiana University, he won the Big Ten "triple crown" in 2008, was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Year, won the Les Bolstad Award (presented to the Big Ten player with the lowest scoring average), a Big Ten Championship in 2008 and played in the Palmer Cup three times. He also won the Spanish Amateur Closed Championship in 2008 and was ranked as Spain’s number one amateur for six years.

He turned professional in 2009 and played full-time on the Challenge Tour in 2010, breaking through in 2011 after two runner-up results helped him to a ninth-placed finish on that season’s rankings to earn promotion to the DP World Tour

He had to wait eight long years before securing his first DP World Tour victory at the 2019 Trophee Hassan II in what was his 229th career start, following three top-three finishes earlier in the season. His next victory came less than 12 months later when he beat Scottish veteran David Drysdale to lift the 2020 Qatar Masters. He claimed his third DP World Tour title at the 2023 Kenya Open.

And then there is Ewen Ferguson, the 2022 winner here and a golfer who loves playing in this part of the world. The Scot has now made his home in Dubai. Ferguson has struggled for consistency at times but has made a decent start to the season and is a golfer who is capable of winning on any golf course if the mood takes him.

Keita Nakajima will be looking to take the title back to Japan. He enjoyed a superb amateur career in which he spent a record 87 weeks at the top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking, surpassing Jon Rahm’s previous record of 60 weeks.

In addition to amateur titles in his native Japan, Nakajima won the Australian Amateur Championship and Asian Games in 2018. Followed in his close friend Takumi Kanaya’s footsteps as he won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2021, earning debut appearances in both The Masters and The Open before turning professional in 2022. He also played in the US Open that year after winning the prestigious Mark McCormack trophy in 2021, which he also won the following year.

He won on the Japan Golf Tour as an amateur in 2021 at the Panasonic Open. He then won three times on his home Tour in 2023 as he went on to finish the year as the Order of Merit winner, earning playing rights for the 2024 Race to Dubai and he claimed a maiden DP World Tour title in just his 11th start at the 2024 Hero Indian Open, going wire-to-wire to win by four strokes

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2016 by Braden Grace, in 2017 by Jeunghun Wang, in 2018 by Eddie Pepperell, in 2019 by Justin Harding, in 2020 by Jorge Campillo, in 2021 by Antoine Rozner, in 2022 by Ewen Ferguson, in 2023 by Sami Valimaki and last year by Rikuya Hoshino.

Form Guide:

Keita Nakajima may not have set the world on fire this season but he has quietly been going about his business and is surely ready to win again. And Jorge Campillo is a past champion here and lost in a playoff in 2023. He simply adores this course. 

The Course:

Doha Golf Club, which has hosted the Qatar Masters since 1998, is a par 72 measuring 7,374 yards. Designed by Peter Harradine, like all courses in this part of the world, it was carved out of desert. 

Prize Money:

The total prize fund is $2.5m, with 3,500 Race to Dubai and 1,000 Ryder Cup points on offer.

How to Watch:

Thursday, February 6-Saturday, February 8, Sky Sports Golf, 9am; Sunday, February 9, 8.30am.

To Win:

Keita Nakajima. A proper dark horse

Each Way:

Ewen Ferguson. MUST win again soon

Each Way:

Guido Migliozzi. Finding some consistency at last

Five to Follow:

Keita Nakajima. A rare talent

Ewen Ferguson. Wonderful putter

Guido Migliozzi. Mercurial

Jorge Campillo. Adores this course

Alejandro Del Rey. Could be a big star

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Dominic McGlinchey. Fabulous amateur prospect

Ugo Coussaud. Fine French golfer

Bernd Wiesberger. Searching for past glory

Eddie Pepperell. Former champion.

Mike Lorenza-Vera. Has been through some tough times