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Henefeld hangs on after last round tussle

Kirk Henefeld limped to victory in the Gosling's Invitational after a final round tussle with Delroy Cambridge that went down to the wire.

The pair were separated by just one shot coming down the final fairway, but while Henefeld's approach found the centre of the green, Cambridge's second shot was short and to the right.

It summed up the round for overnight leader Cambridge, whose bogey at the last gave him a three-over par round of 73 and saw him finish the tournament at nine-under par. Henefeld, meanwhile, parred the 18, his sixth consecutive par of the back nine, finished one-under for the round, 11-under for the tournament, and sealed a two-shot win.

Brian McCann finished third after a three-under 67 moved him to eight-under for the tournament, and on another day he may well have been challenging for the top spot. But, McCann, like Cambridge, had a tough day with the putter and struggled with greens that harshly punished even the most minor indiscretion.

It was that, more than anything, that eventually handed Henefeld his win, but not before he and Cambridge had both done their level best to hand the other victory.

Cambridge actually began the day two shots ahead at 12-under, but Henefeld pulled one shot back with a birdie at the fifth, and a two-shot swing at the very next hole gave him a lead he would never relinquish.

The gap was further extended when Cambridge's par putt at seven lipped out, and when Henefeld birdied the ninth he was at 13-under and three shots clear. Any hope Cambridge had of clawing his way back seemed to disappear at 10 when he dropped another shot.

However, Henefeld then suffered back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12, a hole that saw another two-shot swing after Cambridge finally grabbed his first birdie of the round.

From there the pair matched each other par for par in the closing stages of the tournament, not that Cambridge didn't have the chances to draw level, but his troubles with the putter meant he invariably saw his ball roll narrowly wide, or left it short.

He didn't leave empty-handed, though, his round was still good enough to win the senior division and the $4,500 prize.

"I got off to a good start, and played pretty solid on the front nine given that it was pretty windy, and to turn at three-under put me in almost a too comfortable position with nine holes to play," said Henefeld, who collected $9,000 for winning the open professional division.

"I got a little lazy, and made a couple of stupid bogeys. I hadn't made a bogey all day and I hit a pretty decent shot at 11, but got hung up in the rough, didn't get it up and down, which was no big deal. But, then, I got it right in front of the green on 12, and took four from there to make a six, and then I got a little ticked off at myself for relaxing too much. So I tried to bare down, and made pars coming in, which was good enough.

"You have to hit the ball so solidly on the greens to be able to keep it online. I think that's the reason that they sometimes tend to evade the hole, because when the ball goes in it's been a solid putt."

In the amateur division Daniel Augustus won the title for the third year in a row, finishing five shots ahead of fellow Bermudian Camiko Smith. Chris Garland finished third. Jeffrey Lindo saved his best for last, retaining his senior amateur title by a whopping 16 shots after firing a closing round of one-over par 71.