Gordon Murray won the Sussex Assistants' Matchplay Championship on the 18th and final hole at Crowborough Beacon after overtaking Jamie Harris in a dramatic finish.

The pair were like two dogs with a bone all the way round.

It was a pity there had to be a winner for both gave their all. The £400 winner's prize, although modest, might have been a giant crock of gold judging by the closeness of the exchanges as each matched shot for shot until Murray's par was good enough to decide the issue.

Having birdied the 17th to go all square it was Murray's honour and, while his drive drifted to the right, there was no danger as it finished on a bare patch in the heather. But Harris sent his effort left and his lie was less generous than that of his opponent.

First to play, Harris duffed his second in going for the green and Murray was able to gather all his resources and consult with David Marten, his caddy. A towering six iron had enough velocity to clear the greenside bunker and the Holtye man was virtually home and dry.

Needing three to get on, the only hope Harris had was sinking a long putt but already he was the victim of self-inflicted damage. A tendency to pull his tee shots had cost him lost balls at the 11th and 14th yet on leaving each of those greens, Murray was fortunate to remain on terms.

The turning point was the 16th. This shortish par four was made all the shorter by a following wind but keeping straight was a problem that neither finalist could master consistently. Murray's drive finished in muddy ground amid part of heathland restoration work. There was no GUR sign, only broken-off strands of plastic tape and referee Cliff Pluck, after due deliberation, allowed Murray a free drop.

Twice he released the ball onto the reverse slope of a narrow ditch and twice it rolled back. It was then necessary to place it by hand and, barely able to retain his balance, Murray attempted half a dozen back swings. At last he composed himself and wedged to within nine yards and holed the putt to halve the hole in a birdie.

This left Harris one up, a lead that he had held since the 15th and Murray was off the hook. The 144-yard 17th, however, offered a winning chance for the Nevill man. But there was little he could do against Murray's five yarder that gave him back to back birdies.

After an unpromising start when Murray had a fruitless search at the long par four second when his tee shot disappeared for good, the match was notable for an accurate short game by both players, who had easy passages to the final.

On the short third, Murray's pitching wedge zonked into the soft green only a yard or two past the stick. On a drier surface the spin back might have brought him an ace. True to the perverse nature of golf he missed a birdie chance.

Winter greens, even on such a scrupulously well kept course as Crowborough, are notoriously fickle and each player was within his rights to see every putt down.

It was not until the fifth that Murray won his first hole when Harris' second from rough clipped a tree.

Faced with a far more difficult recovery at the eighth, Harris executed a brilliant shot from a water-filled ditch and might have had a birdie, only for his short putt to lip out.

The cut and thrust continued with increasing intensity until it was hand-shaking time.

At 31, Murray will attempt to play more golf this season and, for the first time, try for a Tour card.

He has clinched a sponsorship with Radar, the equipment manufacturers of Buxted, but has an even more important reason to enjoy 2003. In June he will become a father for the first time.