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Nick Dougherty

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Nick Dougherty
Personal information
Full nameNicholas James Dougherty
Born (1982-05-24) 24 May 1982 (age 42)
Bootle, Liverpool, England
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Sporting nationality England
ResidenceSunningdale, Berkshire, England
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2010; div. 2023)​
PartnerSelena Oliver
Children2
Career
Turned professional2001
Former tour(s)European Tour
Challenge Tour
Professional wins3
Highest ranking46 (17 February 2008)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour3
Asian Tour1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT33: 2008
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
U.S. OpenT7: 2007
The Open ChampionshipT38: 2009
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		2002

Nicholas James Dougherty (born 24 May 1982) is an English former professional golfer and broadcaster.

Dougherty was born in Bootle, Merseyside, and attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, Lancashire.[2] He is a protégé of former professional golfer, Nick Faldo, and had an exceptional amateur career. He won numerous tournaments including the 1999 World Boys Championship and three Faldo Junior Series events.[3] In 2001 he was a member of the victorious Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team.

Professional playing career

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Dougherty turned professional in 2001 and gained membership to the European Tour for 2002 via the final qualifying school. In his début season he finished 36th on the Order of Merit, and was named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. He was hindered by glandular fever in 2003, and his 2004 season was also disappointing when he slipped to 97th on the Order of Merit. In early 2005 he earned his first victory on the European Tour at the Caltex Masters in Singapore,[4] going on to reach the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings in the middle of the year, and ended it in 15th place on the final European Tour Order of Merit. He also made a strong start to the 2006 season before struggling later in the year.

Nick Dougherty after winning the 2007 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Dougherty would bounce back in 2007, and was the leader after the first round of the 107th US Open at Oakmont Country Club with a two under par round of 68.[5] He eventually finished the tournament in a tie for seventh place. This is, to date, his best finish in a major championship, and was also enough to gain automatic entry into the following years championship and the US Masters.[6] Later that year he secured his second European Tour victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship,[7] and finished the season placed 11th on the Order of Merit.

After a disappointing 2008 season which was marred by the sudden death of his mother, Dougherty recorded his third European Tour victory at the 2009 BMW International Open in Munich, Germany. He was three shots behind 54-hole leader Retief Goosen going into the final round. He shot a final round of 64 and ended with a one stroke victory over Rafael Echenique, who made an albatross 2 on the par-5 18th, and by four over Goosen.[8] The win secured Dougherty a spot in his first major of 2009, The Open Championship at Turnberry in July.

Dougherty ended up losing his European Tour card in 2011 after making only one cut during 32 events. Although he finished 45th at the Omega European Masters with a first day 63 helping him to prize money of 10,600 euros, it was not enough to retain his 2012 tour card. He attended the European Qualifying School in late 2011, but was unsuccessful and consequently settled for membership on the Challenge Tour. At the end of 2013 he found himself at Q school on the Challenge Tour where he stated he was much happier with his game than he had been for a while, but success continued to elude him.[9] Dougherty has not played a European Tour-sanctioned event since 2016.

Broadcasting

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After his retirement from playing Dougherty moved into the media with a position at Sky Sports Golf as a presenter.[10]

Amateur wins

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  • 1997 Faldo Junior Series, Golf Foundation Player of the Year
  • 1999 Faldo Junior Series, European Under 21 Championship, World Boys Championship, Polo Classic Under 19 Championship (United States)
  • 2000 Faldo Junior Series, Polo Golf Classic Stroke Play Championship (United States), Guatemalan Amateur Open Championship
  • 2001 Lake Macquarie Amateur

Professional wins (3)

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European Tour wins (3)

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No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 30 Jan 2005 Caltex Masters1 −18 (68-67-68-67=270) 5 strokes Netherlands Maarten Lafeber, Scotland Colin Montgomerie
2 7 Oct 2007 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship −18 (67-66-66-71=270) 2 strokes England Justin Rose
3 28 Jun 2009 BMW International Open −22 (69-65-68-64=266) 1 stroke Argentina Rafael Echenique

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

Results in major championships

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Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T33
U.S. Open T52 CUT T7 CUT
The Open Championship CUT T42 T78 T38
PGA Championship CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

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Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Totals 0 0 0 0 1 1 14 6
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2007 U.S. Open – 2007 Open Championship)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in World Golf Championships

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Tournament 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Match Play R64
Championship T51 T51
Invitational T51 T61 T51
Champions T74
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

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Amateur

Professional

References

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  1. ^ "Week 07 2008 Ending 17 Feb 2008" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  2. ^ "School leads the field in sport". Lancashire Telegraph. 10 July 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Nick Dougherty: The remaking of 'Little Nick' on the hard road to respect". London: The Independent. 6 March 2005. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  4. ^ "Dougherty secures Singapore title". BBC Sport. 30 January 2005. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  5. ^ Slater, Matt (15 June 2007). "Dougherty storms to US Open lead". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  6. ^ Slater, Matt (17 June 2007). "Cool Cabrera wins US Open classic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  7. ^ Mair, Lewine (8 October 2007). "Nick Dougherty wins at St Andrews". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  8. ^ "Dougherty holds on for BMW title". BBC Sport. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  9. ^ Snowdon, Paul (8 November 2013). "Nick Dougherty feels far happier with life and his golf game now". Liverpool Echo.
  10. ^ "Golf (Sky Sports)". SkySports.
  11. ^ "European Boys' Team Championship – European Golf Association". Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Golf round-up". The Herald. 9 July 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  13. ^ "European Amateur Team Championship". European Golf Association. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
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