Dougherty: Pre-tournament boost
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Nick Dougherty will head for Oakland Hills boosted by his first sub-70 rounds for five tournaments.
The 26-year-old Liverpudlian shot 69 on both Saturday and Sunday at Firestone after opening with rounds of 72 and 78.
Despite a poor season so far - just three top-10 finishes and 55th place on the 2008 Order of Merit - Dougherty insists he sees signs of a return to the form that took him to 11th on the Order last season.
"It was good. Obviously 69 is a bit different here because it's only one under but it's a really tough golf course," Dougherty said.
"I played for periods. There were a few iffy shots in there but all in all I played a lot, lot better and I'm very pleased.
"It's been a good week and hopefully it's the start of finding my game again. Mentally it was good this week and I did deal with it well because not a lot has gone for me."
Heartened
Dougherty was also heartened by his positive reaction to that poor round on Friday.
"I played badly," he added. "That was a bit disappointing, but then to come back and play like I did, that's not what I've been doing.
"When I've had a bad one that's been it for the rest of the week, so to then go ahead and play just as good as the first day on the Saturday and Sunday is obviously very encouraging.
Expectations
"It puts me in a much better position going into next week. I've still got to keep my expectations low because it's been a long time of playing bad golf and not feeling so good about the game, but I'm just going to try to enjoy next week and keep building if I can.
"No matter what the result, try to get a little bit more of the good stuff next week and hopefully that will be the way I'll come back."
