Mum’s dying wish drives Dougherty on

4:01pm Tuesday 15th July 2008

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Nick Dougherty has been through such a rough spell following the loss of his mother that only her dying wish is stopping him from pulling out of the Open Championship.

“If I thought I couldn’t make the Ryder Cup I wouldn’t be playing at the moment, including this,” said the 26-year-old Shaw Hill professional, who tees off on Thursday at 12.47pm with American Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas of Columbia.

“My head’s not where it needs to be and my golf game’s not where it needs to be. But I know it can still change and that’s why I’m still playing.”

Ennis Dougherty died aged 61 in late April after suffering a heart attack and, although her son has managed a 10th and a fourth place finish since then, he has dropped to 12th in the Ryder Cup standings by missing three of his last four cuts.

One good performance will take to put him back in an automatic top 10 spot.

“It’s a long shot now,” he added as Graeme McDowell won the Scottish Open to move up from 10th to sixth in the standings and so make Dougherty’s task harder.

Nevertheless, he will press on because he knows that his mother wanted him to do all he could to try to earn a debut.

“It’s going to be lovely to have the support this week, but it’s hard as well because I want to play well and part of me – the real me - is not really here.

“I’m desperate to find it and hopefully The Open will give me inspiration.”