CRANS SUR SIERRE, September 1, 2011 (AFP) - Rory McIlroy found form on his return to action after a wrist injury with a six-under-par 65 in the opening round of the European Masters here on Thursday that leaves him two shots behind surprise leader Nick Dougherty.
England's Dougherty has slumped to a lowly 791st in the world after failing to make a single tournament cut since the Hong Kong Open in November last year.
However, the 29-year-old rose to the top of a strong field after a flawless round which featured eight birdies and not a single bogey.
"It's quite a bounce-back," he said in an interview with his wife Diana, a presenter for Sky Sports, afterwards.
"It's been tough coming home and having to deal with constant disappointment and I'm really, really proud of how I played.
"It was difficult to find positives because there was nothing going my way, but today was super. My short game's been great all year, but I drove it much better and hit some quality iron shots."
Dougherty timed his return to form perfectly, with this weekend's event the first to count towards qualification for the European team that will face the USA in next year's Ryder Cup in Chicago.
However, he faces stiff competition at the top of the leaderboard, with reigning US Open champion McIlroy looking in fine form in his first tournament since last month's USPGA Championship.
"My arm's nearly back to 100 percent," he said after making five birdies in his last eight holes. "I had a good bit of treatment on it and rested it.
"I kept my eye in last week, but it was nice to get back on the course and feel the competitive juices again."
McIlroy is level on six-under with Germany's former world number one Martin Kaymer -- with whom he was a colleague at last year's Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor -- Lee Sung of South Korea and England's Gary Boyd.
Open champion Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood are at four-under, but Europe's Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal struggled to a 75.
Scores from the first round of the European Masters EPGA event at Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland (GBR & IRL unless stated, par 71):
63 Nick Dougherty
65 Gary Boyd, Rory McIlroy, Sung Lee (KOR), Martin Kaymer (GER)
66 Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Simon Dyson
67 Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Michael Campbell (NZL), Richard McEvoy, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA), Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood
68 Maarten Lafeber (NED), David Lynn, Peter Hanson (SWE), Brett Rumford (AUS), David Drysdale, Stephen Dodd, Niclas Fasth (SWE), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Jbe Kruger (RSA), Jamie Donaldson
69 Christian Cevaer (FRA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), John Parry, Seung-yul Noh (KOR), Gary Orr, James Kingston (RSA), Chris Rodgers, Mark Brown (NZL), Damian Ulrich (SUI), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Mohd. Siddikur (BAN), Alexander Noren (SWE), David Dixon, Paul Lawrie, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Edoardo Molinari (ITA)
70 Francesco Molinari (ITA), Joost Luiten (NED), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Peter Lawrie, Graeme Storm, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Shane Lowry, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP), Michael Hoey, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA), George Murray, Richie Ramsay, Hennie Otto (RSA), Shiv Kapur (IND), Phillip Price, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Oscar Floren (SWE), Stephen Gallacher, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Ignacio Garrido (ESP), Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE)
71 Thomas Aiken (RSA), Soren Hansen (DEN), Danny Willett, Johan Edfors (SWE), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Namchok Tantipokakul (THA), Anthony Wall, Andre Bossert (SUI), Michael Jonzon (SWE), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Richard Bland, Mark Tullo (CHI), Niklas Lemke (SWE), David Horsey, Andrew Dodt (AUS), Rikard Karlberg (SWE), Martin Rominger (SUI), Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG), Rick Kulacz (AUS), Keith Horne (RSA), Ross McGowan
Selected
72 Peter Karmis (RSA), George Coetzee (RSA)
73 Marcus Fraser (AUS), Anirban Lahiri (IND), Daniel Gaunt (AUS), Matthew Zions (AUS)