Italian Open: Nick Dougherty refused to blame a pain in the neck for yet another squandered victory chance in the Italian Open here at Castello di Tolcinasco yesterday.
The young man tipped for stardom by Nick Faldo after helping Britain and Ireland win the Walker Cup in 2001 looked set to add to his solitary professional success in the 2005 Singapore Masters after a succession of near misses when three clear of the field at the turn.
He was rubbing his neck after a sudden sharp twinge on the ninth but, having sunk a 27ft putt for an eagle three at the first and snapped up two birdies to reach the turn in 32, he shrugged off the pain.
Instead of a 293,000 victory, though, he had to settle for joint third and €81,000 as he stumbled down the home straight to end one behind Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who beat the Austrian Markus Brier in a sudden-death play-off after coming home in 30 - eight strokes better than Dougherty - for a 65.
Dougherty, who had hoped to celebrate his 25th birthday 18 days early with a second Tour triumph, admitted, "My back is playing up and my neck is feeling quite stiff. I'm disappointed but I really struggled on the back nine. Basically I just didn't have the shots. I couldn't keep the ball in play and had to work hard just to keep it to a couple of errors - technically I just wasn't there.
"Having had so many chances to win doesn't make it harder. If anything you learn from your experiences. My short game was just fab but every day I've hit it a little bit worse.
"I was hanging in there but I got really unlucky with a lie and the bogey five there. But these things happen and I'll just hopefully go on and win one of the big ones back home."
It was brave talk but Dougherty looked a broken man having now had four second-place finishes, four thirds and three fourths in 21 events in which he has been in with a winning chance since 2002.
Two double bogeys in the last three holes cost him the chance of repeating his Singapore success and in last week's Spanish Open he failed to break 70 in the last three rounds after leading with a 66.
His undoing in Milan came after he hit tee shots deep into the trees to take six at the 12th, then into water to miss out on a birdie at the long 15th.
Fernandez-Castano, winner of the 2005 Dutch Open and 2006 Asian Open, gave himself little chance when he stood on the 10th six behind but, with an eagle and five birdies - and a trip to the water at the 13th - he finished with a 65.
Brier then caught him with birdies at the 16th and 17th and parred the last, just missing a 20ft birdie.
Fernandez-Costano won with a birdie at the second extra hole.
Jeev Milkha Singh, meanwhile, missed out on the third place he needed to climb back into the world's top 50 and qualify for this week's Players Championship in Florida.
The Volvo Masters champion, who a month ago became the first Indian to earn a place in the Masters at Augusta, resumed in joint seventh spot, but came only 26th after a 72.
"I wanted to get in, but I'm not too disappointed because I've done a lot of travelling lately and it would have meant another long trip," said Singh, who began the week 54th in the rankings.
France's Raphael Jacquelin could have qualified for Sawgrass as well by winning and when he posted his 65 he was in joint second place. But he wound up tied seventh on 14 under.
Peter Lawrie was the best of Ireland's two finishers, the Dubliner posting a final-round 68 to finish on 10-under-par 206.
Kilkenny's Gary Murphy carded 70 to finish seven under par, on 209.
- Guardian Service
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