Doughty competitor

One for mum: Dougherty's gesture

His swing is visibly better, his game is better and he's ready to move on to the level that perhaps four years ago everybody predicted for him.

Dennis Pugh on Dougherty
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Mark Roe told Golf Night that Nick Dougherty will use his BMW International Open win as a springboard back into Major action.

The 27-year-old missed out on this year's Masters and US Open after falling outside of the world's top 100 following the death of his mother last year.

But Roe, Dougherty's short game coach, says there are now plenty of reasons to be optimistic about his charge's future.

"Having worked with him now for the best part of six months, I can tell you he is a very classy man indeed," said Roe.

"It took him a long time to get over the death of his mother; at that point he was in a really good position in the Ryder Cup list having won the Dunhill Links Championship before that happened. It really did halt him in his stride for a while.

"But what we see now is a new Nick Dougherty, a positive Nick Dougherty. I love the gesture he made to the sky to his mother. He is a very emotional man indeed but the time I have spent with him has been an absolute pleasure."

Build

Following his one-stroke success over Argentina's Rafa Echenique in Germany, Dougherty has climbed up 29 places to 14th in the Race to Dubai and qualified for the Open at Turnberry.

Roe reflected: "I think the fact that he wasn't at Augusta or the US Open was something that really stung him in the fall in the world rankings; he thoroughly enjoys the big stage and just getting into the Open Championship is absolutely wonderful.

"If he continues to build on this then hopefully he will get into the USPGA Championship at the end of the year; the goal was always to get into the top 50 in the world and then he will be back into all four of them."

Improvements

European Tour coach Dennis Pugh believes that if Dougherty continues to make strides then he has every chance of becoming Britain's next major champion.

"Nick Dougherty has moved up to a whole different level now because he's starting to prove to himself that he can finish off golf tournaments," he said.

"We've all had a little bit of doubt about it because he's been in position quite often when he's not followed through.

"I happen to know that he doesn't like being criticised. He is a sensitive person and he has made improvements on his swing.

"His swing is visibly better, his game is better and he's ready to move on to the level that perhaps four years ago everybody predicted for him."