Dougherty used to Miami heat

Nick Dougherty is playing his first tournament in Miami, but that does not mean he is a stranger in town.

“I love this part of the world,” he said after shooting a two-under-par 70 in the opening round of the CA Championship at Doral Resort’s Blue Monster on Thursday.

“I come on holiday here twice a year, not to Doral, to South Beach, but it’s close enough. And I grew up coming here on holiday, because my parents live in Orlando, so it’s kind of a home from home for me.”

Even so, this is just Dougherty’s third World Golf Championships event, which is a little strange when he has played in seven major championships.

The 25-year-old was quite pleased with his opening round, even though it paled in comparison with the 65s carded by leaders Miguel Jimenez and Geoff Ogilvy.

Dougherty is comfortably ensconced inside the top 10 on the European Ryder Cup standings, thanks largely to a victory at last year’s Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

With so much prize money and world ranking points on offer this week, a high finish, let alone a victory, will vault him, or anyone else for that matter, up the rankings.

Jimenez could certainly do with a big finish to kick start his Ryder Cup hopes, because he currently is just outside the top 10, even though he won the Hong Kong Open in November.

The 44-year-old from Malaga has been on two previous teams, the losing side in 1999 and the winning team in 2004.

Co-incidentally, both his previous appearances were made when the competition was held in the United States, as it will be this year.

Jimenez has come close in this event before, losing a play-off to Tiger Woods nine years ago at Valderrama.

That was back in the days when the tournament was slated to rotate between US and Europe, before the PGA Tour decided to keep it not only exclusively in the United States, but at the same course.

One man not likely to improve his Ryder Cup ranking this week is Colin Montgomerie, who was third last after an opening 75.

Montgomerie could, if he wanted, give himself two more chances of earning his way to the Masters, by winning one of the next two PGA Tour events in New Orleans or Houston.

However, he has no plans to play either, and judging by his form the past couple of weeks, it might be a waste of time anyway.

The way Tiger Woods is playing, there will be little point anyone else turning up at Augusta unless they are in very, very good form.