English professional golfer
Lee Westwood has made his intentions clear for the upcoming Commercialbank Qatar Masters - which kicks off tomorrow (February 2nd) - despite admitting he is a "notoriously slow starter".
The world number three, who was recently pushed out of second position by Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, insisted he is preparing for success at the prestigious event, where he will face a number of the sport's biggest names.
Following a third place finish at the Doha event two years ago, the 38-year-old is confident he can move onwards and upwards with a performance that is miles ahead of his 17th place finish in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
"It was a decent start last week," he commented. "I had a few issues to negotiate - we've been working a lot on my fitness just recently and I haven't played a lot coming into Abu Dhabi."
Westwood, who will partner defending champion Thomas Bjorn and Australian competitor Jason Day at the upcoming event, revealed he is expecting some difficult conditions at the Doha course due to forecast wind.
He said: "But if the wind really pumps this week, it could quite easily be an eight under or nine under par winning
golf course."
Meanwhile, Denmark's Bjorn has claimed the key to enjoying the same level of success in 2012 compared with the last 12 months is to make sure he continues to enjoy playing golf - which could be sound advice going into this week's competition.
Adding to his victory at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in 2011, Bjorn went on to win the Johnnie Walker Championship and Omega European Masters.
"It's nice to come back as defending champion or you come back to a golf course you won on, it always gives you those memories," he said
During the 2011 proceedings, Bjorn eased into a four-shot lead to finish with a three-under-par score of 69 for a total of 274 at the Doha Golf Cub as 2009 champion Alvaro Quiros finished as runner-up for the second consecutive year.
Austrian professional golfer Markus Brier and Spaniard Rafael Cabrera Bello both tied for third position at the hotly-contested event on a respectable end of tournament score of nine-under-par.
"I made a decision two years ago - I went through a spell of not finding golf all that much fun anymore and maybe a little bit of falling out of love with the game and the travelling," Bjorn added.
