(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Armstrong Vas / The Peninsula
Doha: Young Korean sensation Jeunghun Wang is back to defend his title in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters but he will face strong competition from a field that includes last week's runner-up in Oman Chris Wood, two-time winner on this year's European Tour Shubhankar Sharma, the ever-consistent Andy Sullivan and the talented Dane Thorbjorn Olesen.
The 22-year-old Wang claimed his third European Tour win in eight months last season in Qatar to reach a career-high ranking of 39th and earn himself access to golf's biggest events.
Wang made just four of his next 15 cuts over the summer but has missed just one since the US PGA Championship, with four top 30s in the desert, and is confident he can start moving up from his current position of World Number 123.
'I'm so happy to be back in Qatar, he said.
'I love playing this course so I'm very excited to get back out there and I think my game is ready to go too.
'This was my biggest win in terms of the field and the prize money so this is a big tournament for me. It got me into Majors and WGC events, he said.
'They were incredible experiences for me. I learned a lot from watching the best players in the world, and also from the golf courses. I really want to get back into those fields this year.
'I'm hitting the ball well now but my putting is not very good. I'm working on it a lot so hopefully it works this week. IT's getting better and I've made all four cuts in my events this year and I played well in those events, so I feel really good coming into this week.
'I like windy courses and I like this course too. I also have good memories so I love playing here and it should be fun.
Major champions Darren Clarke and Paul Lawrie are among the star names on the entry list as are 2018 Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn and his vice-captain Robert Karlsson.
Wood is a past winner of this tournament, back in 2013. He also comes into the event on the back of a strong showing last week in Oman where he finished alone in second.
'It had been rough few months for me, even going into the end of last season. I hadn't felt like I'd played well for a while so to just find some form and also to contend again was good. You get back all the feelings that you want there's no doubt it's given me a big bit of confidence heading into the rest of the year, Wood said.
'I really struggled with my swing, feeling like I've not really been getting much out of the ball flight, it's been quite weak and I've just been a bit confused with where I was at with it. It was a tough decision to change coach, changing back to my old coach back in Bristol, he added.
'I had a good couple of weeks at home with him so I got a bit of clarity and I feel a lot better taking it out on the golf course.
Another player to look out for is Julian Suri. The American was tied second on his last European Tour start in the Hong Kong Open last November, and he had top-10s in three of four starts immediately prior to that.
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