The Nick Dougherty story pt 2: Nothing compares to my round with Tiger

Jul 18 2007 by Mike Torpey, Liverpool Echo

NICK Dougherty is the most successful professional golfer Liverpool has ever produced. He goes into the Open Championship at Carnoustie tomorrow on the back of a top ten finish in last month’s US Open, where he partnered the man he considers the best ever, Tiger Woods.

To hear the second in a three-part interview with Nick Dougherty, click here

NICK Dougherty has tasted victory on the European Tour, starred in a winning Walker Cup team in the United States and contested four major championships, but describes playing with Tiger Woods as by far the best experience of his career.

Relaxing at his parents’ house in Blundellsands, the 25-year-old reflected on his outstanding performance in the US Open at Oakmont and the moment one of his golfing dreams came true when he was paired with the world number one.

Dougherty had produced one of the rounds of his life to lead after the opening day at the punishing Oakmont course with its lightning fast greens, but day two proved really tough.

Says Nick: “On the way back to the hotel after that second round I was feeling really disappointed. Although I didn’t play that badly I had shot seven over and missed some short putts which were killers.

“My manager was with me driving the courtesy car, along with my brother and my coach, and I asked my manager to put in a call to find out my tee time for the next day.

“I knew we had finished on the same score but there were a few of us on five over. Then I heard him say ‘Yes, 2.05 with Tiger Woods’. I nearly went through the bloody roof. I was so excited.

“I had been almost cheated out of playing with him on a couple of previous occasions in that the draw was changed because of weather delays from two balls over the weekend to three.

“I actually thought I might get him last year in The Open at Royal Liverpool. If I had played well right up to the Open I think I might have done, you never know.

“To get him in the third round of the US Open when you’re both in contention, with him behind chasing, was fantastic.

“He was gunning, it was Tiger in full throttle on that day. It did so much for me because I hung tough with him all day – I was one shot behind him playing the 15th.

“I thought ‘this guy’s playing the best round he’s played all year, I’m not playing that well and he’s only beating me by one and this game is what he’s supposed to be the best in the world at’.

“It gave me such confidence to think that even when I’m not playing that well I can still hang in there with someone this good.”

So just how good does Dougherty believe Woods to be?

“He is everything that I admire in golf and I think he should be the role model for all junior golfers, any golfer for that matter, because I think he is the best there has ever been.

“I think to try and compare him with Jack Nicklaus is totally unfair because he plays a different sport. There are so many good players now. Back then there were only about five guys each week who could win, now there are about a hundred.

“Tiger’s strike rate is 25% compared to Nicklaus’s which was closer to 5%. That’s huge. To think in a sport to beat 155 other guys one in four times. And when he doesn’t, think how many times he comes second. He’s hardly ever out of the top five.

“To be that good in a sport which relies on a ball that travels so far at that speed, with bounces, differences in tee times, lies, to be that consistently good is phenomenal. He has finished first, first, second and second in his last four majors.”

Dougherty believes that in sports like snooker or tennis, where one player is facing another individual, it is understandable that the best player would keep winning. Golf, however, just isn’t like that.

And while many players crumble when paired with Woods, it was an experience Dougherty was always going to relish.

“I was so looking forward to playing with him that I was never going to fall by the wayside,” he says.

“What made it so much easier for me was that I was so looking forward to it. I looked forward to the noise, to the bits that come with playing with Tiger Woods. That was a huge benefit for me.

“He’s the most down to earth, courteous golfer I have ever played with. You couldn’t have a better draw. I don’t find his aggression, his punching the air, intimidating.

“He’s not arrogant and it’s not aimed at you either. He’s not in your face, he just does his own thing and he’s great to watch.”

Nonetheless, to suggest Dougherty was feeling nervous on that first tee would be an understatement.

He says: “I didn’t hear this at the time but it’s quite a funny story. When I teed off on the first I was shaking on the tee.

“I was so excited though. I stood there and thought of all the things I’ve been through and the tough times from the back end of last year and my patience has been rewarded with this day.

“I’m going to play with the best player who has ever played the game in the third round of the US Open and no matter what happens, even if my golf goes down the pan, I have led this thing and no one can ever take that away from me.

“Putting the ball on the tee my hands were shaking. It didn’t help that Tiger stood there and flushed one straight down the middle.

“Then I hit one left with a bit of a hook on it and someone apparently shouted out ‘this guy ain’t gonna break 90’. The Americans are like that, they don’t mean it they just say it for a laugh, but my coach jumped on him and said ‘that’s my player you’re talking about’. That shot was so bad, but what was so good about that round was that I just kept making putts.

“Playing with Tiger was better than winning. It was a huge landmark for me – to lead a major championship, to stick around there all week and to finish in the top eight, to earn a spot in the Masters next year, go back to the US Open, compete with Tiger Woods and to hold my own. It gave me a feeling of almost belonging.

“And if you can say that when you play with Tiger Woods under that pressure, in that arena, in his country then you’ll never have anything to fear.”

To hear the second in a three-part interview with Nick Dougherty, click here

TOMORROW: Why I can win The Open.