Golf: Nick Dougherty slips out of place in Ryder Cup team

Jul 8 2008 by Richard Williamson, Liverpool Daily Post

Nick Dougherty, Liverpool-born professional golfer at his family's home in Birkdale _320

NICK DOUGHERTY has slipped out of the qualifying places for the Ryder Cup team.

He missed the halfway cut at the European Open to allow Graeme McDowell to overtake him into the 10th and final automatic place in Nick Faldo’s team.

Sergio Garcia is up from fifth to second after finishing runner-up to Ross Fisher, who moves from 21st to 11th.

The top 10 who would earn places as things stand are Lee Westwood, Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Justin Rose, Hansen, Martin Kaymer, Henrik Stenson, Oliver Wilson and McDowell.

Open champion Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald are favourites for Faldo’s two wild cards.

Time is running out for the Liverpool golfer as the team is finalised at the end of August.

He is entered for this week’s Scottish Open at Loch Lomond before his appearance in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale the following week.

It was the first time Dougherty had missed a cut in 10 events, since the Dubai Desert Classic at the end of January.

He had rounds of 71 73 to be level par after two days at the London Club.

He is now 55th on the European Order of merit with 340,952 euros from his 14 appearances. His world ranking is 59th, which has slipped since he forced his way into the top 50 following his win in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last year.

Latest leading places in the European Ryder Cup tables after the European Open (top five on world list on August 31 qualify, plus next five on European list. Captain Nick Faldo then adds two wild cards; capitals indicate players in qualifying positions)

World List: 1 LEE WESTWOOD 224.48, 2 SERGIO GARCIA 187.70, 3 MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ 174.86, 4 ROBERT KARLSSON 180.88, 5 JUSTIN ROSE 168.86, 6 Henrik Stenson 163.02, 7 Martin Kaymer 148.45, 8 Padraig Harrington 138.63, 9 Luke Donald 134.66, 10 Daniel Chopra 123.59, 11 Soren Hansen 119.15, 12 Ian Poulter 110.82

European List: 1 Westwood 2,085,621, 2 Karlsson 1,996,232, 3 Jimenez 1,789,641, 4 SOREN HANSEN 1,328,157, 5 MARTIN KAYMER 1,305,447, 6 HENRIK STENSON 1,293,239, 7 Justin Rose 1,260,626, 8 OLIVER WILSON 1,251,857, 9 GRAEME McDOWELL 1,221,023, 10 Ross Fisher 1,190,618, 11 Nick Dougherty 1,032,337, 12 Soren Kjeldsen 1,002,885