RETIEF Goosen was the star but 19-year-old Nick Dougherty grabbed a huge slice of the limelight in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia.

The Shaw Hill rookie, the youngest player on the European Tour, confirmed his pre-season billing as one of the most exciting prospects around by finishing eighth at Lake Karrinyup in Perth.

Big-name scalps

Dougherty flipped through some of the biggest names in world golf in the chasing pack - including his mentor Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood - to card a closing round of two-under-par 70. That left him level for the tournament but a massive 14 shots behind runaway winner Goosen.

But it was still a typically gutsy performance and his score, which figured three birdies on the inward half, was bettered by only a trio of players as he finished third best Brit behind Manchester-based Yorkshireman Simon Dyson and Londoner Anthony Wall.

Success for Macc lad

Macclesfield's Jamie Donaldson, who had returned a mixed bag of birdies and bogeys in the third round, was much more consistent as he handed in a 72 containing one bogey negated by a birdie at the short 17th to tie 14th and two strokes adrift of Dougherty.

But both players will be well satisfied to not only to have finished in the top 20 but to have made the cut in all three opening events this season, leaving Donaldson 26th in the merit table and Dougherty three behind him.