Dougherty Rises to the Top

Nick Dougherty’s exhilarating victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship saw him pip off a host of outstanding candidates to The European Tour Golfer of the Month award for October. The Englishman’s outstanding performance over the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns saw him post a winning score of 18 under par 270 to defeat a world class field which included Open Champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, England’s Justin Rose – who finished second to Dougherty – and World Number Four Ernie Els of South Africa, who finished the week in sixth place. As he prepared for the 20th Volvo Masters at Valderrama, Dougherty received his award from George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, and Mel Pyatt, the retiring President and CEO of Volvo Event Management. He commented: “Winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was huge, especially in view of the field with the likes of Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Paul Lawrie and Steve Webster, who all challenged me on the Sunday. It was great to come out on top and it is nice to be rewarded with The European Tour Golfer of the Month award. “It took a lot of belief and confidence to go forward and that win was just what I needed because it had been a frustrating year to that point. To go out and finish things off was a huge bonus. I am proud of what I’ve done but obviously I still have to keep moving forward.” Els was one of three other outstanding candidates for October’s Golfer of the Month award following his magnificent seventh success at the HSBC World Match Play Championship, where he defeated US Open Champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina in a thrilling Final over his home turf, the West Course at Wentworth Club. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was another serious contender for the October award after the 18 year old’s inspirational performances in finishing third at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and then fourth at the Open de Madrid Valle Romano just seven days later to secure his playing privileges for The 2008 European Tour in the space of four tournaments. Like Els and McIlroy, Englishman Steve Webster was also in contention for the award following his emotional two shot victory over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson at the inaugural Portuguese Masters at the Oceânico Victoria Clube de Golfe. Dougherty, though, was considered the worthy winner and joins 2007’s Golfer of the month roll of honour alongside: Retief Goosen of South Africa (January), Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (February), South Africa’s Anton Haig (March), Austria’s Markus Brier (April), Harrington (May and July), Cabrera (June), Scotland’s Marc Warren (August) and Lee Westwood of England (September). The European Tour’s Golfer of the Year will be selected at the end of the 2007 season.