David Howell sets off today in pursuit of a seven-day desert double which would make him almost £250,000 richer.

After scooping the £141,660 first prize in the Dubai Classic on Sunday, the 23-year-old from Swindon has had to curb his celebrations to concentrate on the Qatar Masters, where another £102,000 is on offer to the winner on Saturday.

Paul McGinley, in 11th place in the Ryder Cup table, heads the Irish challenge and is joined by Philip Walton, Padraig Harington, Eamonn Darcy and Des Smyth.

If Howell wins again he will not only stretch his lead at the top of the European Order of Merit, but also move second behind Colin Montgomerie in the Ryder Cup table.

And this time he does not have to worry about Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke or Nick Faldo.

They are all away preparing for next week's £3 million World Matchplay Championship in California, an event for which Howell did not qualify.

Defending champion Andrew Coltart said: "People always say there's more strength in depth on the American Tour, but we have a lot more than we did and it's become much harder to predict who is going to win.

"Some years ago there might have been 20 possible winners. Now it's nearer 50. And a few years ago Faldo said there were no youngsters coming through - now there are a bunch of them."

He includes in that list 19-year-old Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the British amateur champion who is poised to turn professional after the Masters at Augusta in April.

Garcia made all seven halfway cuts in the events he played on the European circuit last season and impressed again last week before falling back to 31st place.

"It's possible he could qualify for the Ryder Cup this year. It would be a fantastic achievement, but I think the guy is a hell of a player and it wouldn't surprise me, he said."

Five of next week's 64-man matchplay field at La Costa near San Diego have decided to play in the Gulf state before making the long journey to America's west coast.

They are Welsh player Ian Woosnam, Swede Patrik Sjoland, Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez and Argentina's Eduardo Romero, Westwood's likely first-round opponent next Wednesday.

Woosnam has missed his last two halfway cuts in Perth and Dubai and has embarked on a series of exercises to try to cure the shoulder injury which has been bothering him.

"It's just one of those situations. I feel I need to play because I just haven't had much golf in the last three months," he said.

Woosnam's worry is that forcing shots out of the rough could aggravate the problem.

That was the dilemma he faced in Dubai, when the rough was probably the thickest ever seen for a European Tour event, and the bad news on his arrival in Doha was that the fairways are a lot narrower than last March.

"It's not as severe and a lot fairer than last week - but it's going to be harder than last year," said Coltart, who won by two strokes on 18-under-par.

After failing to make the World Championship Coltart accepts he has only an outside chance now of moving from his current 70th in the world rankings to 50th in the next three weeks and thereby earning a Masters debut.

Hampshire's Justin Rose, meanwhile, merely wants to earn his first cheque on the European Tour - at the 14th attempt.

The 18-year-old, who was fourth in the Open as an amateur last July, has seen his fortunes slump dramatically since he joined the paid ranks.

Another former Walker Cup amateur playing this week is Bernard Gallacher's 24-year-old nephew Stephen, whose first venture on tour three years ago was cut short by a back injury.

The former Scottish champion has fought his way back via the secondary Challenge Tour and this is his return to the main circuit.

South African Retief Goosen is happy to be part of the Qatar line-up for another reason. Three months ago he broke his left arm snowboarding in Switzerland and it was only last week that he was able to start hitting shots again.