Dougherty stages recovery

12:08pm Friday 25th January 2008

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CHORLEY'S Nick Dougherty made a late recovery to finish the first round of the Qatar Masters on level par.

Dougherty, hoping to land a Ryder Cup place this year, had a nightmare start, firing a double-bogey seven on the opening hole in Dohar.

He also bogeyed the eighth, leaving him on two-over on front nine.

But the 25-year-old recovered well, shooting three birdies to finish in the clubhouse with a round of 72, and tied in 35th place.

That was five shots behind leader Lee Westwood, who is determined to land his 19th European Tour title after a flawless round of 67.

The current Order of Merit leader admitted he needed to get out of the blocks quicker after failing to chase down wire-to-wire winner Martin Kaymer in Abu Dhabi last week.

Westwood was faced with the same situation at November's HSBC Cham-pions event in Shanghai, where he overturned a 12-shot deficit in the final round before losing out to world number two Phil Mickelson in a play-off.

But after finishing inside the top 10 in eight of his last nine events, a leaner and fitter Westwood is determined to claim the winner's cheque after making one of his best starts to a year.

"I'm definitely a slow starter," he said. "It's all to do with my fitness.

"I usually come out a bit lethargic and the muscles are not really working, but I do a lot of gym work with the muscles on the golf swing and feel strong and everything feels right.

"I played very well again. I started off a bit iffy and missed a few greens at the start but I got it together.

"All in all, a pretty solid day's work and I was quite pleased. Confidence is very high at the moment. You can't help be confident.

"You are always mindful after a long break, but in the middle of that I finished fourth at Tiger Woods' event and last week I came out and started slowly after feeling a bit rusty but I got it going and got into the tournament and had a chance on Sunday."

Former champion Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia were among a seven-strong group two shots off the lead on three under par after testing conditions.