Tiger Woods may guarantee packed galleries but even the oil-rich Qataris cannot afford the former world number one's appearance fee for the only European Tour event in the Gulf state. The American's involvement at the January 23-26 Qatar Masters would cost a whopping USD3 million, said Qatar Golf Association president Hassan al Nuaimi.
"Tiger Woods demands USD3 million just for an appearance, if he were to compete - which is not worth paying for a tournament of USD2.5 million prize money," he said.
Instead, 14-times major winner Woods begins his season at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship next week before returning home to compete in the U.S. PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open.
Woods finished tied third in Abu Dhabi last year and has never played in Qatar. Paul Lawrie will defend his title at the Qatar event where the field includes world number four Justin Rose of Britain and American world number nine Jason Dufner.
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