And while that still left him seven adrift of halfway leader David Lynn, Dougherty had high hopes of putting his recent worries behind him.

The former Walker Cup star was at the Open last week but only as a spectator after failing to qualify there as well and to be asked to attend a press briefing with Davis Love, Tom Watson and Luke Donald brought it home to him even more how much he wished he was playing in his first major championship.

Dougherty was diagnosed with glandular fever earlier this year and has been on medication ever since.

He is desperate to take a break from the game to rest and hopefully recharge run-down batteries, but as missed cut followed missed cut so the fear grew that he might have to go back to the tour qualifying school at the end of the season unless things picked up.

He has slipped to 113th on the Order of Merit and only the top 115 keep their cards.

“One good week and I know I’ll be okay,” he said and this could be it, even though he followed his two early birdies with a bogey at the fourth.

Lynn, seeking his first tour win, was 10 under – one ahead of New Zealander Michael Campbell and four clear of Open runner-up Thomas Bjorn, Swede Robert Karlsson and local hope Peter Lawrie.

Darren Clarke had no hope of climbing back into the reckoning for the title after a shocking run around the turn.

Having produced a 68 to survive the cut with one shot to spare yesterday - Padraig Harrington was among those who failed to make it – Clarke birdied the second but then had three successive bogeys from the seventh to turn in 38 and double-bogeyed the 160-yard 12th to crash to three over.