St. Charles Country Club overcame a shaky start yesterday to run away with the Goodwill Tournament by eight strokes.

The Canadian club, comprised of professional Mike Sherman, Oliver Plett, Dominic Dirisio and Charlie Spiring and hail out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, recorded a final round of 58 at Port Royal for a four-round total of 226.

"My guys are very happy," Sherman said before the awards presentation at the Southampton Princess last night. "Professionally, I've had some things happen to me that are nice, but they've never had anything as significant as this happen to them."

Bermuda's Ocean View Golf Club staged a furious rally, under the guidance of Dwayne Pearman, to finish second after an impressive 55 at Belmont.

The Devonshire Club's closing effort was good enough to secure honours in the gross division, which precluded them from being named as net runners-up. But it was the exploits of St. Charles, beaten out of sight in their debut appearance last year, that stole the show.

St. Charles led by six strokes overnight but began their last 18 holes nervously with their first net bogeys of the tournament!

"We were on the green and putting for a par and both of my guys three-putted for a seven," Sherman said.

"And on the short, par-three third, Oliver was the only one to hit the green but three-putted for our second net bogey."

"We weren't talking to each other after the third hole," he added, with a laugh. "Then everything started to work and all four of us started contributing to the team."

Dirisio made two birdies on the back nine for net eagles, Sherman made a natural birdie on a hole where none of his team-mates had a stroke and Plett and Spiring contributed further with two pars apiece, for net birdies, that led to St. Charles blazing the back nine in eight-under.

"Considering our start, I didn't think we were going to break 60," Sherman said. "After the third hole, I thought that things were slipping away. We were all nervous - everything was rushing a bit faster than we were used to.

"We were not joking around like we were used to - the high-fives weren't quite the same. But once we settled down, we got back to the routine of the past few days."

Tim Conley added a $3,200 winner's cheque to the $4,000 he pocketed from the Belmont Invitation last weekend, after holding on to win the professional title by three points.

Conley, the professional for Avila Golf Club, the runners-up in the gross division, compiled 156 points in the stableford format after the original strokeplay competition was cancelled.

Dan Wilkins, of Laconia Country Club, finished second with Pearman and Bruce Rogerson, of Brantford Golf and Country Club, joint third on 148.

John Carney, the Bricklanding Plantation professional, duly won the Senior Division title with 151 points, six clear of Ed Whalley, of Meadow Brook, with Westchester Hills's Kevin Morris alone in third on 144.