A couple of beers, movies and a bit of Love Island - the perfect formula for a successful golf tournament.

Not textbook perhaps but it worked for Maidstone golfer Matt Ford, who was part of what must be the most successful houseshare in sport.

Ford clubbed together with Richard McEvoy and James Heath to hire a house for the SSE Hydro Challenge in Scotland last week and the pair duly took the top three places.

McEvoy won the Challenge Tour event with a 16-under-par total of 268, earning 40,000 euros.

He finished four shots clear of runner-up Heath with Ford, boosted by the sixth hole-in-one of his career, a further shot back in third.

Ford, who won 17,500 euros following his best result of the season, spoke about the houseshare.

He said: “I’ve kind of shared with Richard McEvoy for the last couple of years on the main tour and I knew him before that as well and we’ve become friends.

“James, I’ve shared with occasionally but not that regularly but we know each other pretty well.

“We’re all laid-back characters, we’ve all got children, so it’s easy to get on.

“Richard’s caddy was sleeping on the sofa, so there were four of us in total.

“There was a fair bit of golf chat. We also watched movies and there was a bit of Love Island conversation going on.

“I’ve only caught one or two episodes but James Heath and Richard’s caddy seemed to be pretty up on it.

“None of us are really drinkers but we had a couple of beers most nights and kind of relaxed.”

A final-round 64 shot Ford up the leaderboard, helped by his ace on the sixth.

He said: “I played a good round on the Sunday.

“It started nicely with the hole-in-one, which was amazing, and I was able to ride that wave.

“You have to calm down a bit because it was only the sixth hole and I was only four-under at that point.

“There were a couple of bogeys but I played nicely and holed a couple of chips as well.”

Ford missed out in final qualifying for The Open on Tuesday.

He finished tied-17th at Royal Cinque Ports on three-over after rounds of 74 and 71.

He needed to finish in the top three to reach Royal Birkdale.