Nick Dougherty recovers his form in style

England's Nick Dougherty finally had something to smile about this season when he began the Ryder Cup race yesterday with an eight-under-par 63 at Crans-sur-Sierre.In a nightmare slump to 791st in the world, the 29-year-old has not made a single halfway cut since the Hong Kong Open last November.

But, after a horror run of 21 early exits in a row, Dougherty leads the Omega European Masters by two in Switzerland and does so against a field that includes Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer - three of the game's top six.

"It's quite a bounce-back," said Dougherty when interviewed afterwards by his wife Diana, golf presenter of Sky Sports.

"It feels great, obviously. I've not had a lot to be happy about and you've had to take the brunt of it and put up with me. It was difficult to find positives because there was nothing going my way, but today was super."

Kaymer and McIlroy shot 65s to share second place with England's Gary Boyd and Korean Lee Sung, while Open champion Darren Clarke was among those alongside Westwood four behind. Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal struggled to a 75, one better than his predecessor Colin Montgomerie.

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