Golf/Portuguese Open: One costly lapse in concentration sent pre-tournament favourite Nick Dougherty tumbling off the leaderboard in the Portuguese Open yesterday.

Dougherty had just carded his second birdie in a row to lie one shot off the lead when he fell foul of the daunting 18th.

The 22-year-old Englishman drove out of bounds on the 474-yard par four, then hit his second ball into a bush to the left of the fairway.

After taking a penalty drop, the Liverpudlian missed the green with his approach and needed three more shots to get down, running up a quadruple bogey eight.

From two under par Dougherty slumped to two over, and, after another bogey on the fifth, needed to birdie his last two holes to record a one-over-par 72.

That was seven shots behind leader Markus Brier of Austria, who defied the testing cross-winds blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean to card a superb 65.

"It's disappointing but I played quite nicely apart from that one hole," said Dougherty, who held off Ryder Cup stars Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn to win his first tour title in Singapore in January.

"I knew my drive would be in the trees, but once we got up there the out of bounds fence was very close to the tree line and one of the TV guys said it had gone out.

"It makes it so much more difficult when the wind blows and it was good to shoot one over. My attitude was very good and I was very calm and relaxed.

"There's three rounds to go, I'm not in bad shape and I'm obviously playing good enough golf, so as long as I don't make mistakes like that anymore I think I will be there or thereabouts."

Dougherty was one of the early starters who faced the toughest conditions, with only 11 out of 78 players breaking par.

Among them was France's Jean Van de Velde, who carded an encouraging one-under-par 70 on his fourth comeback from a serious knee injury.

Van de Velde has undergone two bouts of reconstructive surgery and made three attempts to return to the European Tour on a medical exemption last season, only to miss the cut in eight of his 14 tournaments and was in too much pain to attempt to earn his card at the qualifying school.

As a result, the popular Frenchman has to rely on invitations to compete on tour.

"I'm very happy," said Van de Velde, who recovered from a double bogey on the treacherous 18th to fire five birdies at Quinta da Marinha.

"Some of it was extremely good, some not so good, but overall I'm pleased.

"It was a difficult day but I tried to keep as cool as I could. I can't believe how tired I am but the knee was perfect, I think it was more due to the emotion of playing competitive golf again.

"The heart was beating a little quicker on the first tee, so that was a good sign I thought.

"It was really, really good over the first six or seven holes because I stuck to my plan of playing it simple, seeing the shot and executing it."

Best of the Irish was Gary Murphy who fired a two-under-par 69 to be in tied 10th place. Damien McGrane was a shot further back after a steady 70, while Peter Lawrie shot a 72 that could have been much better but for a bogey, double-bogey run at the 16th and 17th.

But Philip Walton had another rollercoaster round on his way to a four-over 75 which included eight bogeys and only six pars.

And Stephen Browne had a nightmare, including three double bogeys, in an 81.

Brier made light of the strong winds to set up the chance of a European Tour breakthrough.

Brier has finished second twice on the full tour and his fifth place in the 2004 World Cup with Martin Wiegele last November has given him encouragement.

A quick-fix with his coach after missing three cuts put him back on track.

"My swing was too steep, so my coach and I worked on that, but I didn't expect it to take effect so quickly," said the leader.

Quinta da Marinha First round scores:

(British unless stated, Irish in bold, 12 players to complete first round today)

65 - M Brier (Aut).

67 - M Vibe-Hastrup (Den), S Scahill (Nzl), T Moore (Rsa), N Cheetham.

68 - S Dodd, J Lomas, P Broadhurst, B Lane.

69 - P Lawrie, B Mason, F Andersson Hed (Swe), L Westerberg (Swe), J-F Lima (Por), Gary Murphy, C Monasterio (Arg), A Forsyth, S Little.

70 - J-F Remesy (Fra), J Van de Velde (Fra), H Nystrom (Swe), P Baker, Damien McGrane, S Gallacher, I Garbutt, N Fasth (Swe), K Eriksson (Swe), R Russell.

71 - D Gilford, S Hurd, J Bickerton, K Ferrie, P Sjoland (Swe), C Cevaer (Fra), R Sterne (Rsa), S Webster, C Rodiles (Spa), I Garrido (Spa), G Fernando-Castano (Spa), S Dyson, R Muntz (Ned), M Erlandsson (Swe).

72 - S Khan, N Dougherty, G Havret (Fra), D Carter, M Siem (Ger), F Henge (Swe), S Luna (Spa), S Wakefield, J-F Lucquin (Fra), R Bland, G Houston, Peter Lawrie, C Schwartzel (Rsa), S Little, J Axgren (Swe), I Giner (Spa).

73 - S Kjeldsen (Den), S Drummond, T Price (Aus), F Roca (Spa), M Roe, P Archer, G Evans, G Emerson, B Dredge, V Phillips, A Mednick (Swe), P Golding, S Torrance, D Park, A Cruse (Rsa), R Rock, M Blackey, M Foster.

74 - M King, M Jonzon (Swe), G Bourdy (Fra), E Canonica (Ita), T Whitehouse, J Sandelin (Swe), P Hanson (Swe), F Delamontagne (Fra), JM Lara (Spa), D Griffiths, J Backstrom (Swe).

75 - M Tunnicliff, L Brovold (Nor), A Wall, M Cayeux (Zim), J Donaldson, G Canizares (Spa), P Edberg (Swe), Philip Walton, R Finch, G Jones (US), S Hansen (Den), M Florioli (Ita), J Skold (Swe).

76 - M Maritz (Rsa), A Oldcorn, C Hanell (Swe), L Slattery, N Campino (Por), G Brand Jnr, D Drysdale, A Sobrinho (Por), B Teilleria (Fra), (x) P Figueiredo (Por), R Karlsson (Swe).

77 - A Coltart, H Rey (Arg), S Fernandez (Arg), A McLardy (Rsa), S O'Hara, G Storm.

78 - D Robertson, J Spence, (x) S Castro (Por), M Ilonen (Fin), D Lynn, (x) R Santos (Por), O Wilson, H Santos (Por), M Eliasson (Swe).

79 - M Olander (Swe), A Tadini (Ita), R Coles, P Hedblom (Swe), F Molinari (Ita).

80 - M Sanders, A Maestroni (Ita).

81 - R-J Derksen (Ned), A Marshall, A Dantas Da Silva (Por), Stephen Browne.

82 - R Ballesteros (Spa), J Dias (Por), N Colsaerts (Bel), G Baruffaldo (Ita).

83 - M McLean.

87 - JP Carvalhosa (Por).

Ret: G Orr.