DORCHESTER'S Ben Ward and playing partner Sarah Chick regained the mixed pairs title at the Southern Counties Open, but the former suffered a third-round exit in the men's event, which was eventually won by Bristol's Steve Brown.

Ward marched through the group stages of the individual competition, winning all six of his pool games to set up a meeting with Saul Harvey in round two.

He won that encounter 4-3 but was then whitewashed by Nigel Lamb, who went on to reach the quarter-finals at the George Albert Hotel in Evershot.

Brown, also unbeaten during the round-robin phase, edged out Portsmouth's Andy Jenkins 6-5 in the final.

The Bristol ace opened the deciding leg with a maximum and closed out the match to become the first player to win the trophy twice - he previously triumphed in 2013.

That was the year which also saw Ward and Beaminster's Chick win the mixed pairs for the first time.

Ward and Chick, a semi-finalist in the women's tournament, recorded victories over Kevin and Chloe Stanley (3-0), Mark Grimes and Donna Mabbatt (3-2), Robbie Morris and Karen Bagwell (3-2) and then Kevin Dalwood and Tara Freeman (3-0) in the last four.

They then had too much firepower for Gordon Fitzpatrick and Val Griffiths in the final and ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

Meanwhile, Somerset's Kate Hume took the ladies' crown and Darren Penhall of Cornwall won the men's money in/money out competition.

For full details and results go to the Southern Counties website sthcountiesdarts.co.uk