Tim Conley captured his sixth Belmont Invitation title yesterday amid as anticlimactic a final round as can have been witnessed in the 26 years of this grand tournament's existence.

The harder the lead foursome of Conley, Dwayne Pearman, Andrew Trott and Gary Dorsi tried, the more they struggled until it became apparent that no one would challenge the Georgia native's two-stroke lead that he had built over the first 54 holes.

As it was, Conley closed with a "relaxed" 72, for 285 for the tournament, and was rivalled by Delroy Cambridge, of Jamaica, who was third after Wednesday's play but opted to contest the final round among his rivals in the Senior Division.

Cambridge, who won from his peers by seven strokes with a nine-over-par total of 289, actually got as close as one stroke behind Conley through 11 holes but a bogey at number 14, double bogey at the 16th and bogey at the last restricted his ambitions to the senior crown.

Pearman, who began poorly with three consecutive bogeys from the third through fifth holes and later strung together a similar run from holes13 through 16, survived his worst round of the tournament (77) to finish third on 292. Joe Carr, who won the senior title in the first five years it was contested from 1990, carded a useful 73 to finish fourth overall on 296, with Trott, after a 76 yesterday, fifth on 297. Dorsi, who began the day 10 strokes off the pace, was not a factor with his 76 to finish on 299.

Joe McRonald, Jr., who created a sensation by challenging over the first two days, recovered from Wednesday's nightmare round of 84 to repeat as amateur champion. He closed with a 79 for 304 and beat Dave Purcell, the overnight leader, who ballooned to 83 in the final round, by two strokes.

Meanwhile, Conley, who received a $4,000 winner's cheque, was in sorry mood. "We owe an apology to all the spectators," he said. "Thank them for following us and really thank them for not leaving. You hear the stories of Nicklaus and Watson in a battle shooting 65s and I know Dwayne and I are both good enough to come out here on this golf course to shoot 65 against each other day after day after day . . . and Andrew, too.

"It was frustrating because none of us played any good. Nobody hit any good shots to feed off the other player so the other players could get going. I thought at 10 that somebody would make eagle and then we could all start making birdies but that didn't happen either. Then we got to 15 and 16 and 17 and nobody could even hit a green!"

Conley admitted that it was difficult to get out of cruise control, with Pearman, in particular, unable to apply pressure. "I might not have been relaxed if Dwayne had gone birdie, birdie birdie, where all of a sudden he and I are grinding," he said, "but he couldn't get it going."

Conley's first mistake came on the 325-yard, par-four sixth where he hit three balls off the tee and "finally found one of them". Double bogey was the result, but by then the American had stretched his lead over Pearman to five shots and so had breathing room.

Conley closed the outward nine with pars and started home with a birdie at number 10, matching Pearman's only birdie of the day, sank a 45-footer for birdie at number13 and finished with a 'flourish' by equalling par at the last for the first time this week.

"We were all trying as hard as we could," said Conley, who sank a number of mid-range putts to avoid adding to his three bogeys and one double. "Okay, I won. But you like to win and play good."

Pearman's frustrations were more over his inability to score well on the first three days when he was "hitting the ball well". Yesterday, he conceded that he had no chance. "Every time I missed a green, I made a bogey," he said. "I was hoping to give (Conley) a challenge but I wasn't pitching and chipping the ball too close and that's usually the best part of my game."

He may get another chance in the professional championships of the Goodwill Tournament next Wednesday when Conley will be back as part of the Avila Golf Club team that is headed by Fritz Reiter, the local restaurateur. The team event begins on Monday.

For Cambridge, however, this represents the end of a rewarding season in which he recorded his maiden win on the European Seniors Tour and finished ninth on the Order of Merit. He will be inactive until March with memories of Belmont embedded firmly.

"It's a tough, little golf course," said Cambridge, who received $2,000 for his endeavours. "The next time I play it I will know it a little better. It's short but it's tricky. I figured that if I could make a couple more birdies coming home I would have a good chance of winning. Overall, I feel pretty happy."