THE least surprising result when the final scores were pinned on the leaderboard at the European Tour School this week was the third place achieved by Nick Dougherty.

At 19, he was the youngest in the class of 168 hopefuls - the majority having battled through two qualifying stages - who pegged up for the most searching examination in professional golf.

Those who survived the cut after four mentally-draining rounds faced two more before the leading 35 were handed their cards for a lucrative tour which has grown so big that the 2002 schedule started today in Taiwan.

Dreams were either made or broken at Sotogrande and San Roque where, in the case of Ryder Cup trio Paul Broadhurst, Philip Walton and Steve Richardson, reputations counted for nothing.

But Dougherty, on his first visit to the school, had done his homework.

There were always going to be comparisons with Justin Rose who endured two frustrating years after his sensational fourth place finish, as an amateur, in the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale before he passed the grade.

But failure was not an option for Chorley-based Dougherty. It does not run in the family.

potential

Roger Dougherty, a former car salesmen who bought four garages and now owns a couple of homes for young children with mental illness, spotted the potential in his son at an early age and set him, literally, on a course for a golfing career.

He sold the family home on Merseyside and moved to the lodge house, a pitching wedge from the first tee, at Shaw Hill - an extraordinary decision which has since been justified many times over - as he devoted the next few years to coaching his offspring.

By the time he was 14, when he was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, Nick was playing off a scratch handicap.

The following year he won his first England junior cap and was to become captain of the boys' team and a full international at the same time.

His devotion to the game was unshakeable and today, the former World Boys' champion who three months ago helped Great Britain and Ireland to retain the Walker Cup against the United States in Georgia, owes everything to his dad, mum Ennis - and Nick Faldo.

''My parents have been amazing because they've helped me to keep my feet on the ground but I really owe so much to Nick. When a former world No 1 takes an interest in you it's quite something,'' Dougherty said.

Little Nick met Big Nick, as they have since been dubbed, when he won the Faldo Junior series four years ago.

He then spent three winters at the three-time Open champion's academy in the United States and they became such firm friends that last year Faldo invited Dougherty to join him for a weekend with the legendary Sam Snead.

''Faldo not only coached me but he gave me a confidence to face anything and helped with my fitness. All those aspects together have turned me into the player I am now,'' he said.