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 on Thursday.
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.
"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."
18 March, 2010