Tim Conley as yesterday's final round was cancelled, reducing the event to a 54-hole competition.

With torrential rain flooding several greens, making them unplayable, Georgia resident Conley thus won his third and perhaps easiest Belmont title, with his overnight two-under-par 208 garnering him the $4,000 first prize.

While delighted to have won, the touring professional with previous triumphs in 1991 and 1993 expressed disappointment at the manner in which victory was achieved.

"It's always great to win,'' said Conley, who departs for his home in Atlanta today. "You hate to win because of bad weather, but I was looking forward to playing today because I didn't play very good the last nine holes yesterday and I wanted a chance to beat the golf course again instead of it beating me like it did yesterday.

"I played real good in the pro-am and I played good the first day and the second day.

"I've been walking all week and I got a little tired the last couple of holes and made a few bogeys and then yesterday I played real good until the last four holes and made a couple of double bogeys. But other than that if I could have just not played the last couple of holes each day I'd have been playing real good.'' Conley noted two key adjustments to the way he normally tackled the course at Belmont.

First he made it a point from the outset to attack more and then, rather than use irons off the tee, he relied on his driver and three-wood.

The plan paid dividends as he won the individual section of the pro-am and came back to take the main prize, registering scores of 65, 70 and 73.

"This time in Bermuda I decided to be more aggressive and tried to make more birdies,'' explained Conley. "You always make bogeys out here because of the toughness of the greens or the lies you get in the fairways and I'm not that used to putting on Bermuda grass.

"So I thought if I'm going to make those many bogeys I might as well try and make more birdies to offset them. So I hit driver and three-wood off the tees where normally I used to just keep hitting four and five irons. I tried to get more aggressive and have easier short shots into the greens for the approach.'' Still, the American did not have matters all his own way as he was stalked throughout by defending champion Fran Marello.

Marello was never more than two strokes back, carding scores of 67, 70 and 73 for an even-par three-round total of 210, but as it turned out Conley won it with his brilliant five-under 65 in the opening round.

Asked if he was feeling the heat from last year's winner, Conley answered: "Yes I did. I watched him a little bit yesterday and saw him hit a couple bad shots.

"You know, they say you're not supposed to look at the other guys, but I'm sure he glanced over to see where I may have been and I think Fran and I have had a couple of games before where we've come close and he got me pretty good last year.

"I was hurt last year and was a little disappointed that I didn't play better and I was looking forward to playing with him and Dwayne Pearman today, because I've not played with Dwayne for several years. Some people may not believe it, but you don't want to win like that, you want to win when you beat somebody and not just have it handed to you.'' Conley added that he anticipated a return visit next year for both the Belmont and Lobster Pot tournaments, but as for now he noted a need to return and spend time with his family before embarking on what promises to be a hectic 1996.

"It is going to be an exciting year next year I'm going to play probably 10 Nike events and maybe two or three PGA Tour events.

"I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks in Ireland and try for the British Open next summer and we've got the Olympics in August. My wife's a home builder and she's got a lot of rental properties involved right now, so we're really busy for that and our boys are into soccer and we've got soccer tickets for all the games. Most of my golf this year will be done around Atlanta and I'll probably come back to Belmont and for the Lobster Pot next year.'' In the other divisions Paul Barkhouse (217) captured the senior professional division, while Belmont's own Nick Mansell (215) seized the junior amateur gross prize and Noel Van Putten (226) the senior amateur gross title.

Eldon Lewis was the junior amateur net winner with 208 while A.R.Churm took the corresponding senior title at 203.

Prize-winners, final scores -- see Scoreboard NICK MANSELL -- amateur champion after an impressive three round total of five-over-par 215.

TIM CONLEY -- lifted his third Belmont Invitational title yesterday when heavy rain flooded the greens, preventing any play on the final day.