Dougherty put in shade by playing partner

Nick Dougherty found himself four shots adrift of the clubhouse lead as the defence of his OSIM Singapore Masters title began with a three-under-par round of 69.

The Englishman trailed local favourite and playing partner Mardan Mamat, who used knowledge of the Laguna National course to expert effect to card a seven-under 65.

It could have been better for Dougherty but for a number of missed birdie chances and two dropped shots, where he three-putted.

He said: “I made a couple of sloppy putts and I didn’t hit it as well as I would have liked. The key to this course is putting because if your iron play is good it comes down to a putting contest.

“I didn’t play very well so it is encouraging that I managed to score when not playing that great.”

Dougherty’s day started inauspiciously with a bogey five at the 10th, his first hole, but it was the only dropped shot in his round until another arrived at the sixth.

He righted his early wrong with a birdie at the 11th and picked up shots at the 15th and 17th for a back-nine 34.

A birdie on the second and another at the 10th, his last hole, added gloss to an otherwise hit-and-miss first day.

Mamat, playing with Dougherty and India’s Jyoti Randhawa, carded five birdies and only one bogey on his back nine and further birdies at the sixth, eighth and ninth moved him clear of the field.

He moved two ahead of Australia’s Wade Ormsby and Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand, and three clear of another Australian, Peter Fowler.

The highest-ranked player at the event, Swede Niclas Fasth, was unable to get to grips with a course that caught a few players out on the opening day.

His front-nine 38 left him two-over, while playing partner and fellow tournament favourite, Thai Thongchai Jaidee, shot two birdies and a bogey to lie one-under at the turn.

Dougherty was not the only Englishman to hit the ground running at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club before slipping back.

Stuart Little and Jonathan Lomas were both well placed for much of their rounds, before coming unstuck late on.

Lomas started well and he was at three-under, but bogeys at 16 and 17, added to two others after the turn, saw him fall to a one-under round of 71.

Little also ended with a 71 in spite of shooting four birdies in his round.

Paul Broadhurst, also struggled on his first day with an erratic display.

Starting at the 10th, the Englishman shot three birdies on the back nine as well as a bogey and a double bogey.

He then proceeded with two bogeys in a row at the second and third, then birdie-bogey-birdied his closing three holes, as he laboured to a one-over total of 73.

Ireland’s David Higgins was in good touch in Indonesia and his early form here was promising, with four birdies going to the penultimate hole.

However, a double bogey and a bogey put a dampener on his round, which ended at one-under.