Tournament Information

• Tournament: International Series Qatar
• Date: November 27- 30, 2024
• Venue: Doha Golf Club
• Par/Yards: Par 72 / 7,437 Yards
• Purse: US$2.5 million (US$450,000)
• Asian Tour leg: 20th event of the 2024 season
• The International Series leg: Ninth
• Edition of tournament: second
• Total number of players: 120
• Format: 72-hole stroke play with a cut made after two rounds. The leading 65 pros plus ties make it through to the weekend
• Social Media Hashtags: #InternationalSeries #ThisISEverything #TimeToRise

Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Field Breakdown

• Asian Tour Order of Merit winners: Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Scott Hend (2016), Anirban Lahiri (2015), Jeev Singh (2006, 2008)
• Nationalities: 32
• Top contenders: John Catlin (USA), Ben Campbell (NZL), Patrick Reed (USA), Michael Maguire (USA), Lee Chieh-po (TPE), Richard T. Lee (CAN), Peter Uihlein (USA), Anirban Lahiri (IND), David Puig (ESP), Dean Burmester (RSA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: David Puig (ESP) #103
• Highest ranked player on 2024 Asian Tour Order of Merit: John Catlin #1
• Highest ranked player on 2024 International Series Rankings: John Catlin #1
• Defending champion: Andy Ogletree (USA) – Not playing
• Number of amateurs: 5
• Number of Qatar players in the field: 2

General view of the 18th green at Doha Golf Club. Picture By Ian Walton/Asian Tour.

Tournament Notes

• Although American John Catlin missed the cut at last week’s Link Hong Kong Open, he has otherwise been in fantastic form this whole season with eight top 10s in 12 Asian Tour starts, and he leads both the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings. The 33-year-old has posted two victories so far this season, the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and the Saudi Open presented by PIF, as well as three runners-up at the Black Mountain Championship, the International Series Morocco and the Yeangder TPC. A tied third finish in the season opening Malaysian Open secured him a spot in the 152nd Open Championship where he finished tied 16th for his best result in a major. He currently leads the Merit list with 3,030.06 points to Canadian Richard T. Lee, the winner of the recent BNI Indonesian Masters, who is in second place with 1,784.25. He also tops The International Series Ranking with 900.58 points against 817.63 for last week’s runner-up Ben Campbell. Catlin has also subbed in for injured players on three different teams on the LIV Golf League this year and posted an impressive T7 in LIV Golf Nashville in June. He has amassed US$1,393,925 in earnings on the Asian Tour so far this season, while his LIV Golf League total was US$1,629,367 in his 2024 campaign.
• Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po is coming into the week with five consecutive top 10s, seven in his last eight events, after a T8 in Hong Kong last week. His hot run includes a win at International Series Thailand late last month, a solo third at the Black Mountain Championship, missing the play-off by only one shot, a fourth-place finish at Yeangder TPC, a T7 at the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open and a T9 at the Shinhan Donghae Open in September. Lee is fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and fifth in the International Series Rankings.
• Last week’s runner-up Ben Campbell of New Zealand is a two-time International Series winner after capturing this summer’s International Series Morocco in a play-off against John Catlin, and the 2023 Hong Kong Open. Currently third on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and second in The International Series Rankings, Campbell also finished T6 the BNI Indonesian Masters and T4 in the Black Mountain Championship last month. Other good results this season includes a T5 at the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and a T10 at the 103rd New Zealand Open presented by Sky Sport.
• American MJ Maguire won the Black Mountain Championship after defeating John Catlin on the second play-off hole and followed that up with a great week at the International Series Thailand finishing T4 after a final round 61. Maguire also posted a good result at the BNI Indonesian Masters with a T8 for his third straight top 10, and earlier had a T7 at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters in October. He is currently ranked sixth in both the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings.
• Richard T. Lee from Canada recorded his third Asian Tour win at the BNI Indonesian Masters early this month, this win was his first since 2017 and was his fourth top 10 in a row. He also finished T2 at the International Series Thailand, T9 at the Black Mountain Championship and T10 at the Yeangder TPC in September. He has been a remarkably consistent high performer this season, posting a third at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in May and an eighth-place finish at the International Series Macau presented by Wynn in March. Lee is second on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and third in The International Series Rankings.
• American Peter Uihlein won the International Series England in August and came close to posting another victory at the International Series Thailand, finishing T2 just one shot behind the winner after a bogey on the 72^nd He is currently in fourth place in The International Series Rankings. In addition to the results in England and Thailand, he also has a T3 at the Saudi Open presented by PIF and a sixth-place finish at the International Series Oman earlier in the season. Uihlein also plays on the LIV Golf League where he had a T2 at the LIV Golf Las Vegas as his best result this year.
• The 2015 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Anirban Lahiri of India came very close to capturing his first LIV Golf League event at the legendary Real Club Valderrama in Andalucia, Spain in July. A missed short putt on the 18th in regulation play put Lahiri in a play-off with Sergio Garcia who came out on top in the end. Lahiri’s impressive resume boasts seven Asian Tour titles as well as a runner up at the 2022 Players Championship, a tied second at the 2017 Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour. His best finish in a Major is a tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship.
• Last week’s Link Hong Kong Open winner Patrick Reed of the U.S. is making his third Asian Tour start of the season, after playing the International Series Macau presented by Wynn earlier in the year finishing fourth. The 2018 Masters champion is a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour and has appeared on three Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup squads each. Reed should be considered one of the top shot-makers in the game, as was on display in Hong Kong when he fired a third round 11-under-par 59.
• David Puig of Spain won the season Opening IRS Prima Malaysian Open and has finished inside the top 10 in the other three Asian Tour events he has played in this year, posting a T10 at the International Series Oman, lost a playoff to John Catlin in the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and finished fifth in the Saudi Open presented by PIF. He has also been playing on the LIV Golf League this season as part of the Fireballs GC, and his best individual result was a T3 at the LIV Houston event. On the DP World Tour Puig has also had some success lately, finishing T3 at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid, T4 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and T12 at Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters.
• The 2010 winner of The Open Championship Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa had a good 2024 season on the LIV Golf League, with two runners-up and five other individual top 10s to rank sixth overall. The Stinger GC captain has played in one Asian Tour event earlier this year, the International Series Oman, where he finished in solo second place. He has an impressive record in golf’s Majors, where in addition to the win in The Open he has posted six runners-up, two third place finishes and two other top 10s. He represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
• Fellow Stinger GC and South African Dean Burmester recorded his first LIV Golf League win in Miami in April this year and posted three other top 10s finishing the year ranking ninth individually. He had his latest win playing the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final Oubaai on the Sunshine Tour two weeks ago in South Africa. In late 2023 Burmester won back-to-back events on the DP World Tour in his native country, the Joburg Open and the Investec South African Open Championship.
• Other notable LIV Golf League players in the field this week are Anthony Kim, Brendan Steele, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Sam Horsfield, Thomas Pieters, Kalle Samooja, Matt Jones, Jinichiro Kozuma, Scott Vincent and Kieran Vincent.