Lawrie firmly in the hunt

GOLF EUROPEAN TOUR:NICK DOUGHERTY did his battered confidence the world of good with an opening seven-under-par 66 at the Hassan Trophy in Morocco yesterday.

Home in 30 with an eagle and five birdies, the 27-year-old from Liverpool took a one-stroke lead over Ireland’s Peter Lawrie, Scot Stephen Gallacher, Italian Francesco Molinari, India’s SSP Chowrasia and South Americans Ricardo Gonzalez and Fabrizio Zanotti.

What Dougherty took most satisfaction from was the fact that his round came on the tougher Red course at Royal Dar Es Salam. Of the six players just behind him, all but Chowrasia were on the much shorter Blue course.

From a high of 46th in the world just over two years ago, the three-time European Tour winner has dropped to 120th.

“I’ve been struggling so much I’m just trying to build some confidence and hit as many good shots as I can,” he said.

Breaking his driver on the eve of the event did not hold Peter Lawrie back. “The head of the driver came loose during practice. I have a spare, but I’m just not not 100 per cent confident with it,” said the former rookie of the year, whose only European Tour win came in the 2008 Spanish Open.

“The three-wood’s going well, but the Red is long and the driver will have to come out somewhere.”

The field switch courses today as the pro-am format continues before the top 65 professionals go through to the closing 36 holes on the Red course.

The 35-year-old Lawrie was two-under with eight to play, but eagled the long second and birdied three of his last four holes.

Darren Clarke shot a 69 on the Blue and Gareth Maybin a one-under 72 on the Red where the rest of the Irish struggled.

Shane Lowry shot a one-over 74, Damien McGrane a 75 while Paul McGinley, playing his first tournament since a sixth knee operation in November, managed only a three over 76. Michael Hoey had an unhappy day with an 80.

First round scores

At Blue Course, par 72:

66 – Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Stephen Gallacher, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Peter Lawrie

67 – Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), David Horsey, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Sam Little

68 – Niclas Fasth (Swe), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)

69 – Richard Bland, Anthony Wall, David Lynn, Pablo Martin (Spa), Darren Clarke, Mark Brown (Nzl), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)

70 – Anthony Kang (USA), Azuma Yano (Jpn), David Howell, Gregory Havret (Fra)

71 – Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Andrew Butterfield, Gary Boyd, Richard Finch, Richard McEvoy, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Younes El Hassani (Mor)

72 – Ariel Canete (Arg), Gregory Bourdy (Fra)

73 – Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Andrew Tampion (Aus), Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Faycal Serghini (Mor), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Graeme Storm, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), David Dixon, Markus Brier (Aut), Jamie Donaldson

74 – Sam Hutsby, Gary Lockerbie, Christian Cevaer (Fra), Daniel Brooks

75 – Chris Gane

76 – Paul Waring

79 – Macon Moye (USA)

At Red Course, par 73:

66 – Nick Dougherty

67 – Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind)

68 – Rhys Davies

69 – Phillip Price, Julien Clement (Swi), Thomas Levet (Fra)

70 – Stephen Dodd, Joost Luiten (Ned), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)

71 – Jhared Hack (USA), David Drysdale, Christian Nilsson (Swe), Robert Rock, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Carlos Rodiles (Spa)

72 – Steve Webster, Peter Whiteford, Gareth Maybin, Robert Coles, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Julien Quesne (Fra), Simon Khan

73 – Peter Baker, Danny Willett, Seve Benson

74 – John Parry, Gary Orr, Marcel Siem (Ger), Paul Broadhurst, Marco Ruiz (Par), Shane Lowry, Alastair Forsyth, Tano Goya (Arg), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Barry Lane

75 – Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Damien McGrane, Richie Ramsay, Marc Warren, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Kenneth Ferrie, Peter Hedblom (Swe)

76 – Reda Rhazali (Mal), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Paul McGinley, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)

77 – Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Alexander Noren (Swe), Santiago Luna (Spa), Mark Foster

80 – Michael Hoey