Danny's Diary

 Well I made the cut at the Qatar Masters which was better than the week before. In fact a 28th place finish was not bad considering the way I've been playing.

I'm just not hitting the ball well at the moment and having failed in Abu Dhabi I feared the worst when I started with a first round 76 in Doha. Conditions didn't help my cause because there was a howling wind when I went out in the morning and although there were a lot of other high scores apart from mine I was still left with a lot to do.

To miss two cuts in a row would have been hugely annoying with so many world ranking points up for grabs out here in the Middle East but I pulled myself together and battled through the second round even though I was right on the cut mark after 15 holes.

Fortunately I knocked in birdies at the 16th and 18th which meant I made it comfortably in the end although I was too far back to have any chance of contesting at the top of the leader board.

A cheque for 16,000 euros is no disaster of course but I'm frustrated because I know if I was anywhere close to the top of my game I would be doing so much better.

My target is to get into the world's top 50 and though I've moved up a few places to 115 and I'm lying 22nd in the European Tour's Race to Dubai standings I felt this was my chance out here to really make a big push.

I've been practising hard with my coach Graham Walker and putting in time in the gym using a programme which was devised for me by Hallam University in Sheffield.

I think it's important to make the gym part of my regular routine because fitness is a big part of golf these days. A lot of players work out on the bike or the running machine and you feel the benefits on the really hot days when you could easily tire towards the end of a long round. It can give you that crucial edge and even if it helps improve your game by one shot it's worth it.

I must admit I'm looking forward to getting home and taking a bit of a break after this week's event in Dubai. I will have played four weeks in a row in South Africa and the Middle East so I'm going to give the Avantha Masters in India a miss next week.

It will be quite a long gap before I tee it up again in Malaysia on March 4 but I've said before that scheduling is important this year so that I don't burn myself out.

Hopefully on Sunday I will be flying back to England feeling a good deal more positive about the rest of the season.