Deadly Dougherty is desperate to get over the finishing line this time

By GRAHAM OTWAY

Last updated at 16:03 09 October 2007

England's Nick Dougherty

takes a three-shot lead into

today's final round of the

Alfred Dunhill Links

Championship at St Andrews

determined to prove he has

the bottle to be a winner.

The 25-year-old has figured at

the top of the leaderboard at

eight tournaments this year,

including the US Open, in

which he shot a first-round 68.

Yet despite a string of top-10

finishes, he is still waiting to

add to his maiden tour victory

at the Singapore Masters in

2005. If Dougherty needs a

good omen to take on to the

Old Course today, it was the

third-round 66 he shot to move to 17 under par, having

previously struggled with his

game at the home of golf.

He said: "My previous best

here was 68 in the first year of

the Dunhill and the place has

never been that good to me.

"I don't want to get ahead of

myself, but I have been close a

lot of times this year and

sometimes it's felt like a kick in

the pants when I haven't got

over the final hurdle.

"But I have been playing so

well I feel that when I do

eventually get a win, the

floodgates will open."

Dougherty's closest pursuer

today will be Peter O'Malley,

who on Friday travelled to

Carnoustie only to discover he

had forgotten to pack his clubs.

There were no such hiccups

for the Australian yesterday as

he carded a 69 at St Andrews

to be three shots adrift.

At Carnoustie, Paul Lawrie,

who won The Open there in

1999,moved into joint-third

place by producing a course

record-equalling 64.

Queuing up to put the

pressure on Dougherty today

will be Justin Rose, Padraig

Harrington and Ernie Els, all

of whom are within five shots

of the leader.