Profile / Editor / 13 March 2007 / Leave a Comment

Nick Dougherty has been forced to learn some tough lessons over the last 12 months but he will be hoping that they ultimately stand him in good stead this year as he searches for his second European Tour win.

Much has been expected of Dougherty since he first made a name for himself as a protégé of six-time Major winner Nick Faldo in his Faldo Junior Series in the late 1990s, before enjoying an outstanding amateur career.

After a slow start due to illness and poor form, the Englishman's professional career was expected to take off when he claimed his maiden tour success at the 2005 Singapore Masters.

Five other top ten finishes two years ago helped him to 15th place in the 2005 Order of Merit table but events over the last year have shown Dougherty how hard it is to become a regular winner on tour.

Last year started promisingly enough for the 24-year-old as he narrowly failed to defend his title in Singapore, but his fortunes then nose-dived in spectacular fashion as things went from bad to worse.

Having led the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, his game deserted him over the final two rounds and he then went on to miss ten successive cuts.

Dougherty deserves enormous credit for showing the mental strength to bounce back at the start of the 2007 season, finishing tied for second place at the New Zealand Open, but another valuable lesson was learned at last week's Singapore Masters.

Having miraculously forced his way into the lead late on the final day, after only just making the cut, Dougherty's natural aggression on the course proved his downfall and he carded successive double bogeys to miss out on a chance of glory.

How much the events in Singapore affect him remains to be seen, but Dougherty is one of the early favourites for this week's TCL Classic where he can be backed at 13 to win and 3.45 to place in the first five.

Dougherty had a reputation for enjoying life to the full when he first arrived on tour but a quiet word from some of his more senior colleagues means he now works as hard as anyone on his game.

Possessing a good, solid all-round game, he also has the gift of becoming a birdie machine at times - as shown in Singapore last week when four birdies in six holes thrust him into the lead - which makes him capable of taking any course apart when he's in the mood.

Dougherty has shown how strong he is mentally by battling back from the demons that afflicted his game last year and, with time on his side, he is still fancied to rise to the top of the game - especially if a few more putts start dropping for him like they did in 2005.