European Tour Insider: After heartache comes winning

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England's Nick Dougherty claimed his third European Tour win at the BMW International Open last weekend in Munich.

Nick Dougherty is an absolute joy.

The 27-year-old Englishman wears his heart on his sleeve, is invariably well-spoken and -- of course -- is a very classy golfer.

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His trophies from Singapore in 2005 and St. Andrews in 2007 have now been joined by the award for winning the BMW International Open in Munich last weekend. Neither fellow players nor other observers will begrudge him the success.

The former Walker Cup player enjoyed a successful first season on the European Tour in 2002, which earned him the Sir Henry Cotton Trophy as Rookie of the Year. By his own admittance, though, as a young guy he enjoyed the trappings of success to the full, and his golf game suffered.

Doughtery quickly realized he was letting himself down, though, and he was determined not to waste his talent. A first victory came at the Caltex Masters. Then a tie for seventh at the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2007 showed his skills to a wider audience. Then the win in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship followed.

Dougherty also played the Seve Trophy under the man who's been instrumental in forging his career: Nick Faldo. A Ryder Cup position even seemed a possibility. He was on course for the 2008 contest, too, but his mother Ennis died shortly after last year's Masters debut. Dougherty bravely played in the Italian Open last year when choking back the tears. He accepts the standard of his play collapsed and he needed grief counseling.

Of the win in Germany, Doughtery said: "The strength that my mum had lives on in me. I want to say thank you to all the people who have helped me through some tough times."

DOUGHERTY DREAMS

The win in Munich has qualified Dougherty for the Open Championship at Turnberry in a couple of weeks. He tops the mini Order of Merit that's been running in recent months. He'll be at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, too.

"Amazing how quickly the questions change here," Dougherty said, chuckling. "A few weeks ago, people are asking me: 'Are you going to get your form back and how are you going to get back to being one of the better players in Europe?' And now it's about majors, I love it."

You don't really need to ask Nick many questions. He'll give so much without prompting. In this case, he elaborated.

"People are always going on about experience, but I think Lucas Glover is a great example," Dougherty said. "I believe that if I keep doing what I am, I'll have some chances down the line, and hopefully I'll take some of them."

A MEASURE OF THE MAN

It's a mark of Nick Dougherty's success and belief that he beat two formidable major champions on the home stretch in Munich.

Bernhard Langer shared the last group with Retief Goosen, but the 51-year-old German closed with a 72 that denied him the mantle of the oldest winner on the European Tour while Goose's 71 meant third place.

Rafa Echenique actually was the man to threaten Dougherty -- and what an extraordinary threat it proved to be.

The Argentine racked up an albatross at the last hole. His 243-yard 3-iron rounded off a 62 and a record-equaling inward 27. It came as a surprise to Dougherty that he had to par his way home.

"Up 16, once I hit this green, (I thought) it's all over, no one can catch me," he said. "Then I looked at the board and I saw that, and I was like, wow, there's still work to do."

European Tour press officer Scott Crockett nudged him. "Was it actually 'wow' you said when you saw that?"

Dougherty acknowledged "probably not," then added that he tried to stay positive. Then the good-natured Crockett said, "Now we know you're lying."

"All credit, 10-under par, what a great round of golf," Dougherty said. "Makes it even better now that I've won that someone shot 62 ... and I managed to hold them off. Fantastic. Great result for Rafa."

PABLO IN PARIS

If this week's Open de France Alstom is half as exciting as 12 months ago, it will be a superb tournament.

The young Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal is every bit as good as Dougherty at crowd-pleasing. He has a swashbuckling style with the ability to conjure up shots in the manner of Seve Ballesteros -- and coming from humble roots as a fish farmer, there are always good stories when Larrazabal's around.

His victory over Colin Montgomerie came after winning through the qualifying competition, and he held off the likes of Angel Cabrera and Lee Westwood.

There's a family feel this year as his younger brother Alex is also in the field.

Another Spainiard, Miguel Angel Jimenez, will enjoy the occasion. The French Open will be his 500th European Tour event. He's only the third man from Spain to reach the milestone after Santiago Luna and Miguel Angel Martin.