Dougherty feeling the heat

Nick Dougherty’s overnight lead was quickly wiped out in the third round of the Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters today.

Dougherty led by three shots from former Walker Cup team-mate Luke Donald, veteran Mark James and Holland’s Maarten Lafeber after rounds of 67 and 69 in Malmo.

But that cushion lasted for just four holes at Barseback as the 21-year-old began to feel the pressure of chasing his first tour title and the €322,000 first prize.

Dougherty could not have wished for a better start, firing his second shot on the opening hole to within 10 feet of the pin for a birdie.

That proved to be something of a false dawn however as the next three holes saw him commit a number of costly errors which blew the €1.86m event wide open.

First he attacked the flag cut close to a greenside bunker on the second and succeeded only in finding the sand, then missing from four feet for par.

A wayward drive left of the fairway on the third cost him another shot and a pulled approach to the par-three fourth saw another stroke disappear.

At six under par he was now joined in the lead by playing partner James, at 49 some 28 years his senior.

The former Ryder Cup captain had birdied the second after a brilliant approach stopped just inches short of the hole, saved par from a greenside bunker on the third and then got up and down where Dougherty failed on the fourth.

Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, hoping to become the first home winner of the event since 1998, then made it a three-way tie for the lead when he picked up his third birdie in four holes after recovering from a bogey at the first.

Dougherty’s demise had also allowed a lot more players back into contention, including his former team-mate Donald who had bogeyed the third and birdied the fifth to lie five under.

Donald has already won on the US Tour after a superb amateur career which saw him win seven points out of a possible eight in two victorious Walker Cup appearances – his only defeat ironically coming when partnering Dougherty in Georgia in 2001.

However, this is just his second regular tournament on the European circuit after last week’s debut in the Irish Open at Portmarnock.

Before the last fortnight, Donald’s only other experience on the European Tour came in missing the cut on all four of his Open championship appearances, including this year at Royal St George’s after playing with Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia in the first two rounds.

But he is keen not to abandon his home tour entirely and said: “I feel comfortable out here but it’s hard to play two tours. For the moment I am going to concentrate mainly in America but I would still love to come over and play the odd event, four or five a year.

“It’s a bit more of a relaxed atmosphere, people tend to be a bit more social over here. They are not unfriendly in America but the way it’s set up with tons of hotels and restaurants and a lot of people travelling with their families, separates the players a little bit.

“My goal is definitely to get into the top 50 in the world rankings and that will get me in all the majors and world championship events and I’ll be able to work out my schedule a little better then.”