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Less than a year on from what he called "an enduring nightmare" of ten
successive missed cuts over four long months, the news that Nick
Dougherty shot the lowest score in the opening round of a U.S. Open
Championship over what most informed observers regard as the hardest
course in America has to be rated as something of a surprise. Then again,
major championships are notorious for throwing up unlikely 18-hole
leaders--who can ever forget the unforgettable Peter Tupling at
Muirfield in 1972?--so the presence of the 25-year old Englishman at
the top of the board perhaps isn't as big a shock as one might first
suppose.
He's a good lad is Dougherty. Ask anyone on the European Tour who has
had occasion to cross his path, either on or off the course.
Ever-smiling, even amidst his traumatic summer of 2006 that included
the embarrassment of shooting one shot more than his off-form playing
companion, one Michelle Wie, in the opening round of the Omega European
Masters in Switzerland, the cheery Liverpudlian has many friends amidst
the close knit group of players on his home circuit. Heavens, even the
notorious loner that is Nick Faldo is one of his chums (Dougherty twice
won Faldo's Junior Series as a youngster).
The former Walker Cup player--he was the youngest member of the
Great Britain & Ireland squad that won the trophy at Sea Island in 2001--is also a popular figure with the press. Nothing, it seems, is enough
to prevent this personable young man from fulfilling his duties with
the media. Take this year's Singapore Masters. Two disastrous double
bogeys in the last three holes saw Dougherty tumble from the lead into
a tie for fourth, yet still he patiently answered any and all questions.
He can play a bit, too, even if his record as a professional contains
only one victory, at the 2005 Singapore Masters. Fifteen European Tour
starts this season have produced as many as nine top-20 finishes.
"I like the look of Nick Dougherty," says Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler, a
former European Tour professional and founder of the International
Sports Management Group. "He is going to be very, very good. I have a
lot of respect for him. He does it all with a smile on his face. He
looks good doing it. And he is a very pleasant lad, one who handles
himself well. He has never, to my knowledge, tried to jump any queues.
Whatever he has done and achieved, he has grafted for it. And last year
when he was playing rubbish, he was still the same lad, at least
outwardly. I like him.
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Indeed, on the evidence of his opening round at Oakmont, Dougherty already is. He doesn't lack confidence either, brazenly calling the course "easy" in the wake of his two-under par score that included four birdies and only a brace of bogeys.
"I certainly can't be disappointed with that, he acknowledged. "Especially as I didn't hit it very well. I missed a fair number of fairways, so two under is a fabulous score. I'm very happy. Hopefully I can just cling on for the next 54 holes!"
That, of course, is the tricky part of any U.S. Open. And, with conditions likely to get more difficult rather than easier, Dougherty knows he has a long way to go. His record with the lead is, after all, hardly encouraging.
"I'm not very good at defending," he admitted. "I'm not good on the back foot. I can't kind of prod it around. So it's important for me to go out there and just keep going. It means a lot to me to be leading the U.S. Open, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to win the U.S. Open.
"I believe I'm a good enough golfer to contend in majors, whether it's now or this year or down the line. I want to be one of those European or British players the media look at to fly the flag for us in tournaments like this one."
No problem there, of course. There won't be many in the media wishing this charming young man any ill on day two.
