  We consider a nematic liquid crystal occupying the exterior region in R^3
outside of a spherical particle, with radial strong anchoring. Within the
context of the Landau-de Gennes theory, we study minimizers subject to a strong
external field, modelled by an additional term which favors nematic alignment
parallel to the field. When the external field is high enough we obtain a
scaling law for the energy. The energy scale corresponds to minimizers
concentrating their energy in a boundary layer around the particle, with
quadrupolar symmetry. This suggests the presence of a Saturn ring defect around
the particle, rather than a dipolar director field typical of a point defect.
