Dougherty turns up pressure

Local boy Nick Dougherty put pressure on the late starters as the third round of the BMW PGA Championship got under way at sun drenched Wentworth this morning.

Dougherty, who will be 27 tomorrow, these days lives just around the corner from the Surrey course and knows the layout as well as any member of the European Tour.

Dougherty began his round eight shots adrift of the overnight leader Paul Casey but, taking advantage of calm morning conditions, he picked up three birdies in his first seven to start climbing the leaderboard.

And with the forecast that a light wind would get stronger late in the day making it hard to read as it swirled among Wentworth’s tree-lined holes, Colin Montgomerie – beginning at two under – also made progress with a birdie at his second hole of the day.

However, it was Ulsterman Graeme McDowell who made the biggest early move just 48 hours after undergoing hospital tests which he feared could rule him out of several big money tournaments, including the US Open, in the next six weeks.

The 29-year-old has torn a muscle just above his right ankle and had an MRI scan after his first round 75 worried that he had suffered a stress fracture.

Now McDowell has been told that providing he rests between rounds he can keep on playing and after his third round 68 he said: “Although I am in a lot of pain when I walk, particularly going down hill, it does not affect my swing when I am standing over the ball.”

Two bogeys at the start of the second half of his third round threatened to undo McDowell’s outward half of 33 but he finished off with a hat-trick of birdies to reach two-under-par.