By Matthew Panting

Bearsted's Matt Ford completed a memorable fortnight by finishing sixth in the English Challenge at Colchester on Sunday.

Ford, playing his first European Challenge Tour event of the year, carded a 13-under par 275 to bag around £5,000 in prize money - just a week after a round of 59 in a pro-am event.

"It’s my best finish on a Challenge Tour event so I’m happy," said Ford (pictured).

"I’ve played between two and four tournaments on the tour for the last four years trying to progress but this was my first event this year."

Ford’s success has earned him an invitation to the ECCO Tour Championship in Germany from August 19 to 22 and he is already due to play in the Wales Challenge in Cardiff the following week.

He then needs to play one more Challenge Tour event before the end of October to achieve an Order of Merit ranking.

"It’s reasonably late in the season so I’ll need to play well," he said.

"If I can do well then that should allow me to get a ranking."