SOUTH AFRICA NEXT FOR TRIUMPHANT DOUGHERTY

Nick Dougherty, fresh from his playoff victory at the Lake Macquarie tournament in Australia, is heading back to the southern hemisphere after being named in the four-man England team to meet South Africa in Johannesburg next month as well as competing in the South African Amateur Championship.

The teenager’s partner Down Under, David Griffiths is also named along with fellow internationals David Dixon and Gary Wolstenholme. Another international, Richard McEvoy (Thorpe Hall) is named as reserve, while the captain and manager will be Les Walker from Yorkshire.

Dougherty, 18, (Shaw Hill) ended a 10-year winless run for England players in the Lake Macquarie event when he pipped Australian Luke Hickmott at the second extra hole after they had finished tied on 16-under-par 272. This was the latest in a long line of successes for the Lancashire lad who has been on the international scene since making his debut in the Boys Home Internationals as a 15 year old in 1997.

Both Dougherty and Griffiths, 20, (West Herts), members of the 2001 Walker Cup squad, played in last year’s one-day international victory against the Springboks at Formby emerging with 100% records. It was after this match that England was invited to South Africa.

Dixon, 23 (Enmore Park), made his England debut in last year’s Home Internationals at Carnoustie but this will be his first foreign cap although he represented England in last year’s Chiberta Grand Prix in France.

Wolstenholme, 40 (Kilworth Springs), has competed with unending success in most golf-playing countries but South Africa will represent fresh fields to conquer for the England veteran. And achieving a first by winning in Argentina with Dougherty last November, Wolstenholme will be keen to add to his overseas triumphs.

The South African Amateur Championship takes place at the Oppenheimer Park Club in Johannesburg on 5-10 March and the international at the Riviera International Golf and Country Club, Johannesburg, on 12-13 March.