Lee plays in the Commercialbank Qatar Masters which takes place at Doha Golf Club this week.
Hopefully he will have sorted out his irons for this week's event. Last week Lee struggled with his new set of irons in his bag to comply with the new rules regarding grooves and missed the cut, " I just need to do some work with my irons. I don't know if they've put the wrong shafts in, they just don't feel right and they don't feel the same", he said. "They feel like fishing rods. I don't think it's much to do with the grooves, I just haven't had a chance to go out there and do any testing." He has arranged for a new set of irons to be flown out while he also had his current set re-shaft ahead of the week's event. Things were looking lots better when during an invitational pro-am in Dubai on Monday, Lee carded an eight-under-par 63.
"My club suppliers Ping had provided me with another new set which were back home in England and that I had used before Christmas in a pro-am at my local club Worksop and shot a 65. I had not brought them with me because I was worried whether the grooves would conform," Lee said. "But after the problems in Abu Dhabi, for which there are no excuses, I got UPS to rush them out to me - the grooves have passed the test - and now I am hoping to get back into the old routine."
Out with Kenny Perry and Ross Fisher for the first two rounds, Lee had an 11.50 (GMT + 2) start from the 1st on Thursday. He added only one bogey to his card and finished the first round with a 4-under 68 and in T3rd spot, just one shot adrift of the lead. He had a 7.40 start from the 10th on Friday, carding a 3-under 69 and lies in T3rd place with Oliver Wilson, who he joined for the third round, with a tee-time of 12.16. Lee remained in third position on 9-under par when he shot a 2-under 70 and had a tee time of 12.03 with Robert Karlsson on Sunday.
He was 1-over for the final round at the turn but then had a run of four birdies in five holes. Trailing Karlsson by one shot with four holes to play, Lee's challenge came to an end when he three-putted for a bogey at the 16th. Lee was extremely frustrated using a new driver after cracking the face of the driver he used during the third round. However he shot a 70 for a final score of 11-under 277, earning him T3rd place, €99,512.16 in prize money and 17th place in the Race to Dubai.
"Eleven under is an unbelievable score," he said. "I had to play virtually all the back nine with a three wood. You can't play this course out of the rough and when I pulled the driver out it went in the left rough. And it is tough to play it with a three wood because it's such a long course.
"Long, straight driving is one of my strengths and if you take someone's strengths away from them it is going to very difficult to compete. I struggled with the driver, once I smashed the face in on the 11th yesterday and I think I hit two fairways after that with the driver, which is not like me at all".
" So every credit to Robert, some good shots coming in, got within one of him. And then hit a good shot into 14 and he followed up hitting it in there stiff I and finished with a couple of birdies for the grand slam finish. So the deserved winner. Robert has had troubles that you can't do anything about, a medical problem with his eyes. I don't know where he is in the world, he's somewhere in the 30s and that's obviously a false position for him because he's a far better player than that. And a win will obviously give him a lot of confidence and he is, you know, what you would regard a regular winner on The European Tour so he's probably back where he belongs".
"I've been doing a lot of gym work which I would like to do at this time of the year to get strong for the majors and majors are what I'm basing my year around now, so I'm pleased with the way the year started".
