The Peninsula
Jaham Al Kuwari will start his campaign at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters with a realistic approach, hoping to leave a mark in the tournament in what will be his maiden European Tour event.
Jaham, 26, will be up against some of the big names of the sport, who are preparing to tee off in the 22nd edition of the prestigious event that starts at the picturesque Doha Golf Club tomorrow. The Doha-based golfer along with Saleh Al Kaabi will represent Qatar at the European Tour event, which will see the likes of two-time champion Paul Lawrie, 2017 champion Jeunghun Wanghis, Ryder Cup star David Howell and 2010 winner Robert Karlsson in action.
“It is my first European Tour event and I am very excited about it,” Jaham told The Peninsula at Doha Golf Club yesterday. “It is going to be a challenging task in front of so many big names. The realistic approach for me will be to make the cut and qualify for the last two days. If I make the cut that would be fantastic and will be a great achievement,” he said.
“We will play with the professionals and golf is their job unlike us who have to do other jobs too, besides golf. So, I will look to gain experience and have fun as this is my first European event.”
Jaham’s build up for the European debut includes last month’s Qatar Open Amateur Championship besides the GCC and Arab Championship, where Qatar secured second position for the first time. “My preparation is good. I played well at the Qatar Open to qualify for this event (Qatar Masters) and since then I’ve been working hard on many aspects of the game and I hope to improve my skills. Our performance in GCC and Arab Championships was also good and I am confident of doing well here,” he said.
Speaking about his plan for the remaining year, the golfer said a good performance in the event will help him schedule his roster. “If I make the cut you never know ... different doors may open different opportunities. Apart from that as an amateur, we have the Asia-Pacific Championship, which will be in Hong Kong and then we have the GCC and the Arab Championship,” he said.
Asked about his plan to turn professional, Jaham said: “It’s always been a dream of mine. But like I said, you have to have realistic goals and I think keeping a job right now is a realistic goal for me. Yeah, but no Inshallah. We’ll see how this (Qatar Masters) goes. And you know, this might be a confidence booster for me and you never know what happens.”
Jaham, who started playing golf at the age 13, said there was a need to educate the Qatari people more about the sport.
“A lot of people have this idea that golf is a game which some old people play when they retire, but it’s wrong. If you look at all these players, they’re all in their 20s and 30s. It’s a very athletic sport. So I think there needs to be more outreach programmes. A lot of talent can be found in Qatar because in sports, you never know about the talent until you see it,” Jaham said before adding: “We have the Education City Golf Club that’s open and they’re doing a very fantastic job with their marketing. So we’ll see by the will of Allah it grows. I hope we have more competition.”