Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
The European Tour returns to the Middle East this week for the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, where Spain’s Jorge Campillo will attempt to defend his title.
Below, we have betting tips and predictions for the Qatar Masters from top golf tipster Steve Palmer.
We’ll also be keeping an eye on all the action using bet365’s superb Live Golf Tracker.
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Qatar Masters predictions and betting tips
Qatar Masters course guide and where to watch
Course: Education City Golf Club, Doha, Qatar
Par: 71
Field: 144
Where to watch: Live on Sky Sports Main Event & Golf from 8.30am Thursday
Qatar Masters winner prediction: Antoine Rozner at 20/1
The European Tour returns this week with the Qatar Masters from Education City Golf Club, Doha, and Belgian duo Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry top the betting.
These two mercurial talents won the World Cup together in 2018, but they can be difficult to trust in individual competition. Pieters has an explosive temperament, while Detry is yet to shed his maiden tag and has blown some golden opportunities.
A better bet may be Antoine Rozner, who has made great strides in his career of the last year and could be set for a second Tour triumph on Sunday.
Rozner made his breakthrough in the Golf in Dubai Championship in December, overtaking Andy Sullivan with a Sunday 64, and the Frenchman has carried the confidence from that victory into 2021. The 28-year-old was 16th in the Abu Dhabi Championship, ninth in the Dubai Desert Classic and 26th in a high-class Saudi International, underlining how much he loves desert golf.
He finished 53rd on his Education City debut 12 months ago, but has significantly grown in self-belief since then, rising from 204th in the world rankings to 97th.
He has the right style of play for the tricky Jose Maria Olazabal-designed track – able to churn out greens in regulation – and the Parisian can continue his charge up the rankings.
Qatar Masters outsider prediction: Aaron Rai at 33/1
An alternative to Rozner at bigger odds is Aaron Rai, who has won three times on the Challenge Tour as well as twice on the European Tour.
Rai could take great heart from his last performance – a share of 18th place in the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession – and that impressive effort in Florida shows he is well capable of victory among much lesser company this week. Like Rozner, he has rapidly risen up the rankings over the past 12 months.
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