CHALLENGE TOUR PREVIEW FROM NEIL AHERN

Jack Doherty is hoping that having his brother Paul as company for the English Challenge this week will help him build confidence as the Kilmarnock man looks to turn a corner in his season.

Doherty claimed his best finish of 2011 at Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf & Spa, near Colchester in Essex, where he finished fifth.

With his brother in the field this week and family attending, the 30 year old believes it could be the perfect tournament to build some confidence midway through a year which has thus far been disappointing.

“I am looking forward to it,” said Doherty. “I finished fifth here last year so I quite like the course. I’m quietly confident that I can play well this year.

“It’s been disappointing so far this year. I feel like I'm not far away. I know quite a lot of people say that but I do feel that there’s something good around the corner. It’s just a matter of getting one or two good rounds under my belt and building the confidence.

“It’s been frustrating but in this game you never know what’s around the corner, you just have to keep plodding away and hopefully find a change in fortunes somewhere.

“I think being here this week might relax me mentally. Obviously it can nudge the confidence up a bit being in a place where I've done well before so fingers crossed it does. I can chill off the course with my family and we’re staying on site so we can use the Spa facilities here and things like that might relax me on the course as well as off it.”

His younger brother Paul is amongst the large number of Scots in the field for the €160,000 event and Jack believes his brother could make an impression this week.

“Myself and Paul played together once before on the Challenge Tour in Scotland,” said the older of the Dohertys. “It’s the first time we’ve played together in a couple of years at the very least so it’s good to have him here. Paul’s playing well this year. He’s ninth on the EuroPro Tour so his confidence is up.

“Playing with him during the week is the first time we’ve played together in a while and you can tell his confidence is high and he’s hitting it well.

“It’s good to have him here. My Mum and Dad are coming down from Cardiff and my wife is here as well so it’s nice to have everyone here. It’s a bit of a family affair.”

Another set of brothers, Elliot and Lloyd Saltman, are also in attendance this week, as are Raymond Russell, Callum Macaulay, Jamie McLeary and David Law.