Dougherty left to rue late lapse

Nick Dougherty insisted he was not out of the running for the Portuguese Open despite being the most spectacular victim of the treacherous 18th hole at Oitavos Golf Club.

Dougherty had just carded his second birdie in a row to lie one shot off the lead when he fell foul of the daunting closing hole.

The 22-year-old drove out of bounds on the 474-yard par four and then hit his second ball into a bush to the left of the fairway.

After taking a penalty drop, he missed the green with his approach and needed three more shots to get down from the edge of the green, running up a quadruple bogey eight.

From two under par, Dougherty slumped to two over and after another bogey on the fifth, needed to birdie his last two holes to record a one-over-par 72, seven shots off the lead held by Austria’s Markus Brier.

“It’s disappointing but I played quite nicely apart from that one hole,” said Dougherty, who held off Ryder Cup stars Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn to win his first tour title in Singapore in January.

“I knew my drive would be in the trees but once we got up there the out of bounds fence was very close to the tree line and one of the TV guys said it had gone out.

“It makes it so much more difficult when the wind blows and it was good to shoot one over. My attitude was very good and I was very calm and relaxed.

“There’s three rounds to go, I’m not in bad shape and I’m obviously playing good enough golf. As long as I don’t make mistakes like that anymore, I think I will be there or thereabouts.”

Dougherty was far from alone in struggling with the 18th hole, with Michael McLean and Peter Hedblom also taking eight while South African Richard Sterne recorded the solitary birdie.

More bogeys (65) were recorded than pars (60), and the average score for the field was 4.82.