Golf Central

A protégé of Nick Faldo, he has risen through the ranks, initially finding success in the Faldo Junior Series events. A lot has been expected from him ever since he won the rookie of the year award on the European Tour in the year 2002. Last year in his first appearance in the U.S. Open he finished a very creditable tied 7th after the end of four tough rounds at Oakmont. In fact at the end of the first round he found himself on the very top of the leaderboard.

Last year was a pretty good year for him because later in the year he won the Alfred Dunhill links Championship and ended up just outside the top ten in the order of merit. The win at the links was just his second win on the European Tour.

It is believed that Dougherty paid a sneak peak to the course last week in preparation for the masters and spent nearly 8 hours to complete a single round playing alone. He claimed he had to do that to figure out every nook and cranny of the course and more importantly get rid of the “wow” factor that first timers feel when they are at Augusta.

Of course only three players have won the Masters on debut but I think Dougherty would be more than satisfied if he can put in a top ten finish. Fuzzy Zoeller remains the only guy to have achieved the feat of winning on debut in the last 70 years at the Masters