June 14 USOpendougherty

The American press were already in stitches with Nick Dougherty’s easy smile and witty anecdotes, when he told them the story about how his Dad traded in Paul McCartney’s guitar (his Dad was friends with the Beatles drummer Pete Best) for a flute. “Yup, that was a good move wasn’t it,” he said ironically. “You can imagine the fun I had with that. Do I look like the sort of guy who would ask his father for a flute?”

That brought the house down. Dougherty played with the world’s press corps a bit like he used to play his flute (he reached Grade Six on it) after a first round (2-under-par) 68 gave him a one-shot lead over Angel Cabrera from Argentina.

The Englishman made birdies at the 6th, 11th, 13th and 17th, and despite dropped shots at the difficult 7th and 8th, he looked to be having fun out there; something which is easier said than done at USGA events.

“I love this event more than any other,” he said, “more than the Open Championship even. I don’t know what it is. I love the course set up. It’s just barbaric. And I think I enjoy the crowds more. Americans tend to be a bit noisier than us Brits and I love that.”

Despite Dougherty’s success, it was a mixed day for the Europeans and Colin Montgomerie was in one of his less talkative moods when he announced to a gaggle of press men: “I have absolutely nothing to say.” Monty’s 76 didn’t put him completely out of it, but he was not a happy bunny and his new bag-man, Billy Goddard tellingly said: “I did what I had to do and shut up.”

Sergio Garcia had a nightmare with a 79, as did Sweden’s Henrik Stenson. Paul Casey (77), Luke Donald (74) and Thomas Bjorn (75) will all have to play better on Friday if they are to make the cut, which looks like being at about 9-over-par.
Still, it’s been a long time since an Englishman led the first round of the US Open; and if Rose and Poulter hadn’t faded on their back nines, there could have been three of them. Let’s just hope it can last.

The leaderboard reads:
68 Nick Dougherty
69 Angel Cabrera
70 Bubba Watson, Jose Maria Olazabal
71 Harrison Frazar, Olin Browne, Pablo Martin, Ben Curtis, Tiger Woods, Geoff Ogilvy, Anders Hansen, Niclas Fasth, Peter Hanson, Jason Dufner, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose
Other Europeans:
72 Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Carl Pettersen
73 Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington, Anthony Wall,
74 Rhys Davies, Luke Donald, Kenneth Ferrie
75 Thomas Bjorn, Johan Edfors
76 Colin Montgomerie, Soren Kjeldsen, Martin Laird
77 Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson
78 Sam Walker, Christian Caever, Richie Ramsay
79 Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson