The pressure point

IN WORD and deed Nick Dougherty summed it up, captured the madness of it, the unpredictability, the dizzying twists and turns of the Masters. The young Englishman was 1-under for his second round and 1-over for the tournament when moving to the 12th tee, the trappy par 3 at the heart of Amen Corner.

Dougherty was cool and confident. He had 148 yards into the breeze and an 8-iron in his hand. He hit it sweetly, felt the wind come up around his ears and then watched its impact on his ball. It flew the green and disappeared into a bush, seemingly dead to the world. He reloaded and put his provisional in the water. "I started to unfold a little on 12," he said, sheepishly.

He double bogeyed. "I was a little bit flustered. I was also covered in bush." From 3-over and on the verge of missing the cut, Dougherty rallied brilliantly, hitting three birdies in a row from the 13th and throwing in another before he was done. Yesterday he started well but faded. So be it. This is his first Masters and he's had a hell of a tournament. He'll come again for sure.

Dougherty's dice with death and subsequent resurrection showed that Augusta can give and Augusta can take away. On Friday he began talking about his good friend Justin Rose at about the same time as Rose was in torment down the par five 15th, an unfolding nightmare of which Dougherty knew nothing.

"Justin is verging on world class at the moment," said Dougherty as Rose was dunking a wedge in the drink. "His persona, his discipline are superb," he continued as Rose dropped a ball and thinned his fifth shot over the back of the green. "I just love the way he plays golf,"

Dougherty sang as his mate sent his sixth racing across the putting surface and almost into the water for a second time. Rose finished with a triple bogey eight. He came in bemoaning his "20-second lapse" and his lack of concentration. Rose went from contender to nowhere in minutes, his third round starting where his second had left off. Last we saw of him yesterday he was a lonely figure, cut adrift at 6-over. Sad.

We've waited a dozen years for a British winner of the Masters, a dismal drought that would have seemed impossible when Lyle and Woosnam and Faldo were in their pomp. After two rounds this year there was a collection of Englishman within striking distance of the leaders. There was hope built on the sheer quality of their game but little certainty that their challenges would withstand the pressure. That doubt was understandable. It was hewn from years of watching them come and go on the leaderboard, flattering to deceive, promising that this was their year only to fade away.

Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are the three main men from England. We know they are class but is there a major winner among them? That is the great unknown. On two occasions Poulter has entered the final round of a major in the top 10 and on both occasions – the 2006 PGA and the 2006 US Open – he failed to improve his position, from 8th to 9th in the former and from 4th to 12th in the latter.

Casey has also had two bites and has also gone backwards on the Sunday, from 3rd to 10th in last year's US Open and from 3rd to 6th in the 2004 Masters. Westwood has started in the top 10 of a major five times in his career and only once, at the 2000 US Open, has he finished ahead of where he started. We marvel at some of the things they do but it's no wonder we doubt them. Until the major prizes are won there will always be questions.

Poulter was the pick all week, until Casey burned it up yesterday. Casey putted magnificently, covering the first nine holes yesterday in 32 strokes. As good as that was, it could have been even better. He missed a makeable birdie putt on the first green and was a little sloppy from the fringe on the par-5 eighth, taking three more shorts (and par) when you would have put your mortgage on him making birdie. The way he was playing, Casey looked quite untouchable.

There wasn't a great deal wrong with Poulter's game either, it was just that he didn't make the putts he has been making. He looked as collected as he did on Friday when he turned up on the first tee with his iPod, with his chillout music and his rhythm 'n' blues and his good karma. If America is still trying to figure this guy out then they are not alone. All of golf is still wondering about Poulter, wondering if there is any substance behind the style, wondering if there is a champion in there or just another guy with an over inflated sense of his own game.

He played with Mark O'Meara the first two days. O'Meara is a respected voice, a champion worth listening to. O'Meara read that interview the same as the rest of us, the one where Poulter got his kit off on the cover and outlined his masterplan to blow away his rivals until such time as it's just him and Tiger fighting it out for the major championships as world No.1 and 2 respectively.

Woods takes the mickey out of him for that. He calls him "No.2" in jest. O'Meara, a friend of Woods', confirms that Tiger says it but doesn't mean it. No.2 in the world? Poulter has a long way to go before he flies that high.

O'Meara is asked about Poulter's reputation of being all talk and little action. "Right. Yes, right! I've seen some of that and there's nothing wrong with having some self confidence but your record speaks for itself," he said. "I don't know how many tournaments Ian has won on the European Tour (he has seven victories] but you gotta win multiple tournaments and win around the world to really be considered a world class player. He's certainly got the skills to do that but only time will tell. He's still young and he backed that up on Thursday and Friday – and he looked very nice in the pink outfit as well. I couldn't sport that at 51.

"Listen, he's good for the game. There's nothing wrong with a guy who's got a personality and a little bit of snazz, but whether he's the second best player in the world? I'm not sure about that. He is good and he has potential. He could go to a high ranking in the world, easily in the top 10 but he's the one who's got to do that. Nobody else. This is a whole different arena, though, and come Sunday it's a whole new ball game. But if he keeps playing like he is he should have a shot."

A more mature, a more threatening Poulter? A more together Casey? We'll see. This generation of British players is a good one but what the Lyles and the Woosnams and the Faldos had was the motivation of matching the heroics of a contemporary. "I saw the other guys doing it so I was pretty sure I could win the Green Jacket, too," said Woosnam.

This crop don't have that. They have been around a while and their temperaments can only be seen as suspect until they close the deal, a temperament reflected all too clearly by the hugely talented but mentally frail, Rose. He himself has gone into the final day of a major in the top 10 on four occasions, two of them last year at the Masters and the US Open, another in 2002 at the Open and the first as an amateur at Birkdale in 1998.

That Open was the only time he bettered his position on the Sunday. He did it as a boy, from 5th to 4th in a blaze of brilliance. There was no pressure back then, of course. There is plenty now. Not on him but on his countrymen. And watching how they cope today will keep us riveted.