By Mai Akkad

When it comes to spending money on sports, even Qatar has its limits.

During yesterday’s press conference about the upcoming Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, the president of the Qatar Golf Association minced no words in explaining, when asked, why former number one Tiger Woods would not be playing here.

“Tiger Woods demands $3 million just for an appearance, if he were to compete in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters – which is not worth paying for a tournament of $2.5 million prize money,” Hassan al Nuaimi said.

Woods has never played in Qatar before. But he will be in the region the week before the Qatar Master’s, returning to play in this year’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Both tournaments are part of the European PGA tour schedule. The event in Qatar will be held from Jan. 23 to 26 at the Doha Golf Club and will include world number four Justin Rose of England and American world number nine Jason Dufner.

Meanwhile, Qatar has paid the Spanish Federation some $3.9 million to move a Spain-Uruguay football exhibition match from Portugal to Doha. 

The federation will also take a share of the profits from the match, which will be held on Feb. 6.

Anyone going to either sporting events?

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo courtesy of Tiger Woods on Facebook