EUROPEAN TOUR IN MOROCCO

In the Nick of Time, Dougherty comes good ...

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Nick Dougherty, desperate to ride of wave of English success in golf lately, did his battered confidence the world of good with an opening seven under par 66 at the Hassan Trophy in Morocco today.
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.
"I've been struggling so much I'm just trying to build some confidence and hit as many good shots as I can," said the three-time European Tour winner who has dropped to 120th on the rankings from a high of 46th two years ago.
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"Thomas Bjorn gave me quite a bit of help yesterday on the range, which meant the world to me obviously, but it's a work in progress.
"Anything under par I would have been happy with, so I was delighted with that. I think seven under is a really, really good score round there.
"I putted fabulous and I'm delighted with my short game in general, but it's the long game that's concerning me. I've been battling with that for a long time now."
Breaking his driver on the eve of the event did not hold Lawrie back.
"The head of the driver came loose during practice. I have a spare, but I'm just not not 100% 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 driver will have to come out somewhere."
TROPHEE HASSAN II SCOREBOARD
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco.
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 (US)
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