GOLF/Singapore Masters: England's Nick Dougherty upstaged more fancied rivals Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn to seize a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Singapore Masters yesterday.
Dougherty carded a five-under-par 67 to finish on nine under in the co-sanctioned Asian and European Tour event being played on the Laguna National course.
Beginning three shots behind Montgomerie, Dougherty registered an eagle, six birdies and three bogeys. Having gone out on the back nine in 37, he hit five birdies in six holes immediately after the turn.
His 18-foot putt on the par-four sixth - his 15th - took him level with Montgomerie at eight under but better was to come at the next when his second shot on the 616-yard par five finished within a foot of the pin.
Dougherty tapped in for an eagle to move two shots clear at 10 under but at the last he lagged a 35-foot putt a long way past the hole and missed the return to drop a shot.
Montgomerie could not reproduce the previous day's bogey-free round as he dropped shots at the second and 10th, although birdies came at the third, fourth and 15th in his 71.
Graeme McDowell and Peter Lawrie survived the 146 half-way cut, but fellow Irishmen Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane failed to make the weekend.
McDowell added a 69 to his opening 74 to finish the day on 143, alongside Lee Westwood, while Lawrie was right on the cut-off mark after shooting 72. Gary Murphy fell away to a second round of 79 after a solid opening day's 70, while McGrane's second round 73 saw him finish on 151.
Dougherty was disappointed with the last-hole bogey which robbed him of the chance of completing the inward half in seven-under-par 29.
"I was gutted to bogey the last as it would have been great to shoot 29 on the back nine as I don't think I have ever done that on Tour before," said Dougherty.
Bjorn is tied third on six under par with Welshman Jamie Donaldson, Malaysia's Danny Chia and China's Wen-Chong Liang, after shooting 66.
Leading Second Round Scores
(Brit unless stated, Irish in bold)
135 - N Dougherty 68 67.
136 - C Montgomerie 65 71.
138 - J Donaldson 70 68, W-C Liang (Chn) 70 68, D Chia (Mal) 68 70, T Bjorn (Den) 72 66.
139 - S Hansen (Den) 69 70, M Lafeber (Ned) 69 70.
140 - P Hedblom (Swe) 71 69, A Que (Phi) 70 70, R Russell 73 67, J Knutzon (USA) 69 71, G Havret (Fra) 70 70.
141 - G Chalmers (Aus) 71 70, M Fraser (Aus) 71 70, S Ishigaki (Jpn) 73 68, J Randhawa (Ind) 73 68, R Coles 72 69, P Marantz (Aus) 73 68, B Rumford (Aus) 69 72, A Groom (Aus) 69 72. Selected others: 143 - L Westwood 70 73, G McDowell 74 69. 145 - Paul Lawrie 72 73. 146 - Peter Lawrie 74 72. Missed cut: 149 - G Murphy 70 79. 151 - D McGrane 78 73.
