Doherty hits a third Sussex Amateur Open victory

The 37-year-old won his third championship at Seaford Golf Club earlier this month. He won his final match 2&1 over East Sussex’s JJ Grey in horrendous conditions, as he overcame both the wind and rain in the final and semi-finals.

Doherty said: “It’s always nice to win this tournament, especially as I am a bit older now and was playing against some good youngsters in very competitive matches.

“It was a relief after the weekend was over, as it was played in very difficult conditions.

“It was brutal, and if you ask anyone else, they would have said the weekend wasn’t worth it. I had said that the only person to enjoy it would be the winner, and luckily it was me.”

After being three down with five holes left to play in his first round match, Doherty fought back to beat Lewes’s Lawrie Tremlett 1up.

In the afternoon, he beat Worthing team-mate and reigning champion Jack Bartlett 4&3, which ended Bartlett’s two-year reign as champion.

Doherty then battled the elements to beat Worthing’s Peter Tarver-Jones 1up in the last four, before defeating Grey in the final.

His previous titles were in 2000, at home club Worthing, while his second win came in 2008 at Eastbourne Downs.

Worthing were well represented in the knock-out stage of the competition, making up five of the 16 that qualified, with Scott Nightingale and Nigel Harrington joining Bartlett, Tarver-Jones and Doherty.

Plaudits also went to Tarver-Jones, Toby Tree and Bartlett, who won the Sussex County Team Trophy with a combined score of 461.

They will represent Sussex in the English Champion Club tournament at Scarcroft, Leeds, on September 3 and 4.