Dougherty out of time

Nick Dougherty has made an early departure from the British Open suffering a sixth successive missed cut.

In another big blow to his hopes of a Ryder Cup debut in September the 24-year-old’s first appearance in the championship ended with rounds of 74 and 73 for a three over par total.

Any hopes Dougherty had of recovering from his opening round were effectively over once he resumed with two bogeys and then had another on the long fifth - made all the worse by the fact that playing partner Miguel Angel Jimenez covered the same stretch in four under and at that time led the event by four.

A week ago the former Rookie of the Year was in despair at his game and said that if was not the Open and the Ryder Cup countdown he would be looking to take a break to clear his head.

His battered confidence was repaired by linking up with coach David Leadbetter on his arrival at Hoylake, but he could not convert it into scores once the championship started.