In this lottery we call life, it would seem that Jack Doherty has a lucky number.

"15 seems to pop up now and again," declared the 31-year-old, with the nonchalance of a bingo caller leafing through the night's cards. "I won my first EuroPro Tour event on the 15th of the month, I got married on the 15th, my son was born on the 15th and the final day of last week's qualifying school was on the 15th."

That final instalment in this diary of decisive dates may yet help Doherty to hit the jackpot. After a 10-year apprenticeship in the lower-tiers of professional golf, his successful qualifying school campaign in Spain last week earned him a place on the European Tour for the first time.

While the 2014 season clanks into life today at the South African Open, Doherty has opted to stay at home in Kilmarnock to recover from the rigours of a nerve-shattering q-school process that meant he played 10-rounds in 13 draining days "I came through stage two of qualifying and went straight into the final and that amount of golf under pressure took its toll, mentally and physically," said Doherty. "I just wanted to spend a couple of days with the family, get the head sorted and get myself fresh again for the Dunhill Championship next week."

In the end, it came down to a putt of 12-feet for par on the very last hole of the 108-hole marathon. The putt dropped and Doherty earned the 25th of 27 tour cards available on the nine-under limit. After 10 q-school assaults, he had made it over the line with nothing to spare.

"When that went in, I actually gave a fist pump and I never do that," said Doherty, who finished on the same tally as his fellow Scot, Alastair Forsyth, as the tartan lads squeezed through. "That was my body telling me 'brilliant'. It was the release and I was pretty emotional afterwards. It was the most pressure I'd ever been under."

With a lower ranking, Doherty knows he'll have little time to find his feet. He needs to hit the ground running and make the most of the limited starts that will come his way. After a decade at the coal face, however, the Canberra-born Scot, who won the Australian Amateur Championship in 2003, is just happy to be dining at the top table at last. "It's been 10 years of putting down the foundations really," said Doherty, who became the fifth member of the Team Scottish Hydro support programme to graduate to the main tour in the past three years. "I had six years on the EuroPro Tour and four years on the Challenge Tour. I feel like I've put in the hard work and I think I'll appreciate it a lot more knowing what I've been through to get there. Getting on to the tour was always the goal growing up. The likes of Scott Jamieson and Marc Warren were among my peers in the amateur game and, while I wouldn't say it was jealousy, when you see them out there week in, week out, it pushes you on to get there too."

Having finished a lowly 118th on the second-tier Challenge Tour this season, Doherty has used the qualifying school route to fast-track himself up the order. Now, it's time for a fresh start and a new challenge. "When I turned pro in 2003, I thought I'd just go straight on tour and that would be me," admitted Doherty, who won on the PGA EuroPro Tour in 2009. "I was young and at that age you think you're the top boy don't you? Obviously, it's not as easy as that. You have to go down and learn how to compete and win. Now I'm there, I'm just looking forward to being in amongst it instead of watching it on TV. I want to enjoy it too. Sometimes you forget to savour these things."

And who knows? Maybe Doherty's lucky number will come up again when he makes his debut on the main circuit. "I'll try to get to 15-under in my first event and hope that wins," he added with a smile.