Dougherty: Mixed feelings on Wie draw

Teenage star Michelle Wie was set to make her European Tour debut in Switzerland today, and playing partner Nick Dougherty could have done without all the attention.

Wie’s presence in the Omega European Masters, her 10th appearance in a men’s event, guaranteed large crowds and enormous media interest in the €2m tournament at Crans-sur-Sierre, so much so that Dougherty and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano were asked if they had any objections to playing alongside Wie after their names came out in the draw.

While Dougherty feels it is “a privilege in many ways” he also described it as something of a “burden”, especially given his dreadful recent run of nine straight missed cuts stretching back to the BMW Championship at Wentworth in May.

Problems off the course, including the death of his grandfather earlier this year, have contributed to the slump in form, but the 24-year-old Liverpudlian insists there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“I believe more in myself than anyone else does so I will come through it, I will win tournaments again and hopefully go on and achieve the things I expect of myself,” said Dougherty, who won his first European Tour title in Singapore last year.

“Everyone goes through bad runs. The hardest test is dealing with it as it’s hard playing this poorly for this time but I suppose that is why we make such big money, not for the times we play well but for the times we have to graft like this.

“I was going to cut back my schedule and go and see my coach, David Leadbetter, but that was when my grandfather died and I didn’t have the opportunity. It is a tough call: should I keep going or should I stop?

“Most people think I should stop but I am not that proud that I can’t handle missing the cut all the time. It is part of golf. But I will work my way through it and when I do I will be a much stronger player for it.

“Every year I start great after spending a long time with David over the winter but I have a habit of tinkering around and go off on all sorts of tangents.”

As for playing alongside 16-year-old schoolgirl Wie, Dougherty added: “It is a privilege in many ways, a burden in others as there is the added pressure of, if she beats me, I have to shake her hand and say: ‘Well done! Play well at the weekend!’

“I have my own problems at the moment but maybe I need that little push anyway. She should enjoy the experience and from what I have seen and what David has told me about her, she is absolutely capable of making the cut.”

The odds of doing that for only the second time in 10 attempts are around 2/1, and defending champion Sergio Garcia – who played a practice round with Wie on Tuesday – admitted: “If I had to put my life on it probably not, but if I had £10 (€14.70) why not?"