Nick Dougherty: Brain not brawn will determine winner of Maybank Malaysian Open

Mar 6 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

Nick Dougherty, Liverpool-born professional golfer _158

NICK DOUGHERTY believes brain and not brawn will determine the winner of this week’s Maybank Malaysian Open.

The 25-year-old described the 6,979-yard Ross Watson-designed Kota Permai Golf and Country Club course near Kuala Lumpur as “a thinking man’s” challenge after his practice round yesterday.

“I think the course is great and the greens are in extremely good condition,” said the player currently ranked 51st in the world.

“It is nice to play a course where you don’t just thrash it off the tee with a driver. We play quite a few of those these days.

“You have to plot your way around and the greens are undulating so they can tuck the pins away, so it will matter which side of the fairway you have to come in from. It’s nice to play a thinking man’s golf course.”

Dougherty, who captured his inaugural European Tour title at the Singapore Masters in 2005, appreciates the challenges that come with playing in the far east and is looking forward to testing himself again in the heat and humidity of south-east Asia.

“For the European players, mastering the heat is an issue as we are not used to this, so if you can feel good every day, it can be a fun week,” the Liverpool-born player said.

“I enjoy the grainy greens, it’s a different test. It is easy to read the green, just a case of working out how it will affect the ball.

Given the climatic and course conditions for the £1million event, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours, Dougherty expects Asian players to have a significant advantage over their European counterparts.

“There is an advantage for Asian players because of the different grasses and grainy greens that we are not used to,” he claimed.“It is difficult for us around the greens.”