Holder Sergio Garcia aiming to maintain his impressive record at Qatar Masters

Defending champion Sergio Garcia kicks off his return to action in 2015 in Doha, a place where he feels particularly at home.

The Spaniard has recorded top-10 finishes in his last four appearances, which includes a runners-up spot in 2013.

He is a combined 46 under for his last 16 rounds at the Doha Golf Club and it is clearly a course he enjoys playing which culminated an a epic play-off victory over Finland's Mikko Ilonen 12 months ago.

“I have been quite fortunate to do well here for most of the years I’ve played,” said Garcia, who is looking to become the first champion to successfully defend his title.

“I came close to winning a few times, so it was nice to get over the line last year.

“Two years ago I was close to winning, one shot back, and last year it finally happened so I’m excited to continue the trend.

“I want to play as well as I can and put up a good defence of my title.

“I’ve started my season in Qatar for the last few years, and I always enjoy coming back.

“I have some good memories and hopefully they can inspire me to have another successful week.”

Last week in Abu Dhabi much of the pre-tournament talk was about world number one Rory McIlroy’s habit of writing his aims for the year on the back of his airline boarding ticket ahead of his first tournament of the year.

Such ritual

Garcia, who had 11 top-10 finishes on the 2014 schedule, has no such ritual.

“I try to do the best I can every single week I play,” he European Tour Radio.

“I try to improve every year and be consistent and my goal is to keep going in the same direction from last year.”

Another player more than happy in the Middle East is world number two Henrik Stenson, whose four wins in the region tie him with Ernie Els for most European Tour titles in that part of the world.

“It has been a good hunting ground – I guess I’ve figured out a decent way to play the course, and I’ve done some good scores over the years in windy conditions, as well,” said the Swede, who goes out with Els and Garcia in the opening rounds having missed the cut in Abu Dhabi last week in his first appearance of the year.

Strong pairing

“I’ve got a strong pairing with Ernie, second week now playing with Ernie, and Sergio is back in action, so we’ll have good fun out there. It’s a good group, so looking forward to it.

“It’s just a good way for me to start off the season and I enjoy playing these weeks.”

There are three Irish players in the field in Qatar. Peter Lawrie, who lost his tour card last season, is playing on a sponsor's invite; Damien McGrane, and Michael Hoey.