Dougherty: It's all in the mind

When Nick Dougherty was fearing for his European tour future a year ago, mixing it with Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh seemed a long way off.

But the 23-year-old from Liverpool has come far in a short time and in Akron today he resumed the €5.9m NEC Invitational – his first World Golf Championship – just a stroke behind the top two players in the world.

And Dougherty gives some of the thanks for that to Jamil Qureshi, the “mind magician” who also helped Thomas Bjorn to second place in the USPGA championship on Monday.

After missing the halfway cut in only the second major of his career last week - the first was the US Open in June – Dougherty felt in desperate need of a pick-me-up.

“I’m over-golfed a bit and tired, but I did some really good work with Jamil,” he said after his three under par 67. “We players tend to think only about how we played last week, but he reminded me of the results I’ve had.

“I reckon Jamil’s probably the best there is and hopefully not too many players get to find out about him. I was beating up on myself, but now I’m a lot more accepting of bad shots and enjoying it more again.

“I’m fighting with my swing a bit, but I did some good scrambling and hopefully if my game comes together I can contend this weekend.”

It is certainly worth hoping – the first prize of €1m on Sunday is €84,000 more than Phil Mickelson collected at Baltusrol four days ago.

Dougherty, whose maiden European tour win in Singapore in January qualified him for the event, was actually joint leader with one to play, but could not recover from pulling his drive into trouble.

That left a three-way tie at the top, Woods and Singh find themselves alongside Swede Henrik Stenson, another making a World Championship debut.

Stenson finished disappointingly too. After making a putt of over 60 feet at the short fifth – his 14th – he stood six under and two in front, but the 29-year-old three-putted the next and failed to get up and down from sand on the seventh.

Singh beat Woods the last time they had a duel, but getting the better of him at Firestone Country Club is a tough task for anybody.

Woods has had three wins, a second and a fourth on his last five visits and his bogey-free 66 yesterday took him to a cumulative 60 under par.

That includes rounds of 61 and 62 – and nothing worse than a 72. I always love old-style courses – no tricks, no elephant burial grounds to putt over,” said the Masters and Open champion. “I’d love to see a major here. It’s one of the greatest courses we can ever play.”

Singh has not managed one top five finish on the course in the same stretch, but may be developing a liking. He came home in 31 to take his place alongside Woods and Stenson.

The Fijian has been receiving treatment for back pains in the past week, but it was Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell who was suffering most in the first round and at six over after 13 holes he decided to pull out.

Four weeks ago McDowell was a back seat passenger in a 40mph car crash and he missed the cut in the PGA after being a doubtful starter right up to his tee-off time.

Luke Donald is in the hunt for the title after opening with a 69, while David Howell, who returned last week after two months out with a torn abdominal muscle, matched Colin Montgomerie’s 70.

Paul McGinley was only one further back.

But Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood could do no better than 73, Stephen Dodd and Stephen Gallacher shot 74, Paul Casey and Padraig Harrington 75 and Darren Clarke, winner at Firestone two years ago, struggled to a 76.