Wayne Hawes rode his luck to win the 94th Sussex Amateur Championship in some style at Cowdray Park.

The 25-year-old fork lift truck driver, from Littlehampton, only just scraped into qualifying for the matchplay event and was then taken to the first extra hole by Rob Gardiner in an engrossing semi-final.

Gardiner was one up on the 18th and looked set to meet Lawrie Tremlett in the final showdown as the Lewes greenkeeper had already beaten local hope Chris Hall 4&3.

But Hawes' birdie got him off the hook and his par at the 19th clinched a place in the final for the first time.

As a quarter-finalist last year and semi-finalist in 2002, the force was with Hawes who deservedly beat a tiring Tremlett 3&2 and became the first Littlehampton member to lift the title.

Tremlett was nothing like his best in the final but that should not detract from the way Hawes went about his business.

He was never behind, thanks to a better short game and not once did he seriously stray from the tee.

Once Hawes established a two-hole lead at the fifth, Tremlett made little impression, although he got it back to one with a birdie at 12 when a ten-yarder dropped.

The all-important confidence-boosting shot had been made two holes earlier when Hawes hit a superb three iron from the semi rough to find the green. While the hole was halved it was a stroke that set Hawes' pulse racing.

The comments of Colin Wells, himself a championship finalist in 1966-7, struck me as particularly apt.

He said: "Wayne starts work very early in the morning in order to practice each afternoon and evening. He is a true amateur. I hope this proof of manual hard work, practice and determination will be passed onto others.

"Selling golf equipment and playing the same course every week is no future for young men who want to be champions.

"We want more people like Wayne, who work to earn money and play rather than relying on parental support. Or am I being too old fashioned?"

As it happens, this was a final involving two of golf's toilers.

Tremlett, 31 with three children and a mortgage, left the course on Saturday evening and returned to Lewes where he laboured for more than two and a half hours changing all 18 holes for the following day. His mileage for the three-day championship at Cowdray added up to 400. He said: "I really enjoyed it up until the final but then I was a bit tired and played badly."

Perhaps Hawes' win was not that surprising. He is the man in form. The previous week he broke the Littlehampton course record with a 64 and continued to strike the ball with firm assurance over Cowdray's immaculate fairways and greens.

Defending champion Jack Budgen failed to make the cut.

Paul Cleverley arrived at Cowdray after a 17-hour flight from Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

He touched down at 6.30am and was on the tee three hours later. His 142 was the foundation for Copthorne to win the team championship with Mark Logan and Javier Liste. They represent Sussex in the English Championship tournament at Sandwell Park on September 3-4.