Dougherty puts himself in excellent shape to end dispiriting run

ENGLAND’S Nick Dougherty finally had something to smile about this season when he began the Ryder Cup race yesterday with an eight-under-par 63 at Crans-sur-Sierre.

The 29-year-old from Liverpool has not made a single halfway cut since the Hong Kong Open last November, a nightmare slump which has taken him to 791st in the world.

But after 21 early exits – the same number Justin Rose had at the start of his professional career – Dougherty leads the Omega European Masters by two in Switzerland.

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The three-time European Tour event winner does so against a field that includes Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer – three of the world’s top six.

“It’s quite a bounce-back,” said Dougherty when interviewed afterwards by his wife Diana, golf presenter of Sky Sports and former girlfriend of Jonny Wilkinson. “It’s been tough coming home and having to deal with constant disappointment and I’m really, really proud of how I played.”

Dougherty covered the back nine first in four-under 31, then added further birdies at the first, third, seventh and long ninth – the last of them when his pitch spun back to four feet after he had carved his second shot onto the adjoining 18th fairway.

Kaymer and McIlroy had set the morning pace with six-under 65s, while Westwood was alongside them until he closed with two bogeys.

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The world No 2, a little rusty after a family holiday in Barbados, had come back brilliantly from a double bogey on the second, making eagle twos on the driveable fifth and seventh.

Irish Open champion Simon Dyson, from Malton, is just three shots off the pace after an opening 66.

This is McIlroy’s first tournament since he injured himself hitting a tree root at the US PGA Championship.

“My arm’s nearly back to 100 per cent,” he said after making five birdies in his last eight holes. “I had a good bit of treatment on it and rested it.

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“I kept my eye in last week, but it was nice to get back on the course and feel the competitive juices again.”

Kaymer has fallen from top of the world rankings to fifth since May, but looked much more like his old self and, in stark contrast to Westwood, finished with back-to-back birdies.

He and McIlroy share second place with England’s Gary Boyd and Korean Lee Sung, while Open champion Darren Clarke was among those alongside Westwood four behind.

Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal was no example to his potential team members, fluffing a tap-in of less than six inches as he struggled to a 75.

That was still one better than his predecessor Colin Montgomerie, however.

Harrogate’s John Parry opened with a two-under-par 69 while Sheffield’s Danny Willett is two shots further back on level par.