Joel O'Hara has won his first Sussex Professional Championship.

He was also the leading assistant, won £2,000 and, for good measure, broke the West Hove course record during his second round with a seven under par 64.

A 133 aggregate that began with 69, a three-shot deficit behind half-way leader Jamie Harris, secured the 21-year-old Tilgate Forest assistant the Bill Watts Trophy.

The Waterford crystal bowl was put up for competition by Leslie Watts in memory of his father.

Leslie has backed the championship for five years, although this stalwart West Hover now lives in the Turks and Caicos Islands and only pops over occasionally to his old stamping ground.

A year after O'Hara won the SPGU Riseborough Memorial at Bognor with a £6.50 putter bought from the Tilgate shop. He has stuck with the cheapie that helped him to a dozen birdies on the day, eight of which emblazoned his record card.

The 64 trimmed two strokes off the existing record set by Jason Partridge five years ago and was triggered by five successive birdies starting at the fifth to go out in 31. The next birdies came at 15, 17 and 18 which put the pressure on Harris to shoot 66 for the title, but he fell away with a 72.

On the long finishing hole O'Hara hit the stick out of rough with a nine iron from 170 yards, only for the ball to stay out.

"The funny thing was that I played a lot better in the morning," said O'Hara. "I only hit one fairway in the afternoon and I owed a lot to my putting in the 64 and I must say I'm glad to have stayed with the club."

Championship runner-up yet again was Tim Spence on 135. He had three birdies in a row on the front nine of his second round of 67 and remarked that conditions were windier than in the morning.

Jamie Harris, on his first visit to West Hove, was two over after four holes in the morning but then birdied 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 15 to set the early pace. He played the Sunshine Tour in the winter but has only had two serious outings this summer that included the Open qualifying and a EuroPro event.

Leading scores: 133 Joel O'Hara (Tilgate Forest) 69, 64. 135 Tim Spence (Battle) 68, 67. 136 Gordon Murray (Holtye) 68, 68. 138 Paul Lyons (Sweetwoods) 68, 70; Jason Partridge (Piltdown) 69, 69; Jamie Harris (Nevill) 66, 72; Lee Morris (Piltdown) 71, 67. 139 David Mills (Seaford) 71, 68. 140 Mark Root (Effingham Park) 70, 70; Steve Fenn (East Brighton) 72, 68; Phil Bonsall (Brighton & Hove) 69, 71. 141 Charlie Giddins (Hastings) 73, 68; Adrian Milligan (Piltdown) 69, 72.