Dougherty's hopes disappear
Nick Dougherty’s chances of making the halfway cut in the Scandinavian Masters quickly disappeared in the early stages of the second round this morning.
Dougherty struggled to a first-round 75 in Stockholm, playing the front nine in one under but crashing to a back nine of 40 at Kungsangen.
With five tees moved forward due to the extremely wet conditions, shortening the course by 386 yards, low scoring had been the order of the day and the cut was likely to be two under par or better.
That left the former Walker Cup star needing at least a 65 to stand a chance of being here for the weekend, and he made the perfect start with a birdie on the 10th, his opening hole, today.
But after a disappointing run of four pars – including on the 11th and 13th, two of the shortened holes – the 23-year-old Liverpudlian ran up a double-bogey six on the 15th.
The par four had also been shortened from 306 yards to 283, allowing the players to try to drive the green, but Dougherty’s tee shot found the water to the right of the green.
A good performance this week would have almost certainly sealed Dougherty’s place in next month’s USPGA Championship at Baltusrol. The top 100 in the world rankings are traditionally invited and Dougherty is currently 93rd.
At the other end of the field, Australian Mark Hensby and Wales’ Bradley Dredge were sharing the lead on nine under par.
Hensby, fifth, third and 15th in the three majors this season, had picked up four birdies in his first eight holes, a run matched by playing partner Dredge.
