Magic start for Nick Dougherty in Malaysia

Mar 11 2008 by Richard Williamson, Liverpool Daily Post

Nick Dougherty, Liverpool-born professional golfer _320

NICK DOUGHERTY’S spectacular fireworks at the opening of the Maybank Malaysian Open unfortunately fizzled out.

The Liverpool golfer returned a superb 62 – laden with 10 birdies and no bogeys – in the first round to set the pace at the top of the leaderboard at Kota Permai GC in Kuala Lumpur.

He stayed there at the halfway stage after a battling round of two under par, which was interrupted by lightning, and included a birdie at the last.

However he slipped back to sixth on day three when he could only manage a level par 72, which saw three bogeys undermine his three birdies.

The 25-year-old started the final day with a birdie, but dropped shots on the fourth and 13th saw him close with a 73 for an 11 under par total of 277 and a share of 21st place.

The event was won by Arjun Atwal, who beat defending champion Peter Hedblom at the second hole of the play-off after the pair had both finished on 18 under par.

Dougherty picked up 14,486 euros and is now 42nd on the European Order of Merit with 139,415 euros from six events. He is 52nd in the world rankings and still occupies one of the qualifying positions for the Ryder Cup team.

There was disappointment in the Far East for Phillip Archer, who missed his third cut of the season after playing all four rounds in the past five tournaments.

The Warrington player was one over par at halfway after rounds of 75,70. He is 87th in the European rankings with 61,341 euros from eight starts.

Archer now heads to South Korea for next week’s Ballantines Championship at Pinx GC.