A sublime eagle in the closing stages of the Bermuda Open ensured Tim Conley of the title and blew away any hopes his challengers may have had.

Conley, from Georgia, finished eight shots ahead of playing partner Mike Donald and Craig Marseille who tied for second after Marseille shot the score of the day -- a five under par 66.

Conley had scores of 67, 72, 71 and finished with a 69 yesterday -- the pick of the final round holes being his three on the par five 17th.

Last year's champion PJ Cowan, playing with Conley and Donald, had brought himself into contention for the final round after a 68 on Saturday, but his 74 coupled with Marseille's storming finale saw him relegated to fourth.

The highest placed Islander was Dwayne Pearman, who finished joint seventh with a four round total 293. Andrew Trott came in 14th and Cornell Bean 18th.

Conley said he hadn't expected to finish so far ahead of the field -- especially as he'd come over with some unfamiliar equipment.

"I put a brand new set of clubs in my bag before coming out,'' he said. "I got here on Tuesday and took the plastic off. I hit some really great shots with them, but there were some other shots that required some feel and I had no idea.'' But Conley said on Friday that if he played his own game he knew no one would catch him.

He was proved right -- but the inconsistency of those closest to him made his job that much easier. "Today PJ got off to a shaky start and then Mike made a birdie and gave it back with a bogey,'' Conley said.

"I made a birdie, then Mike made another one and gave it back with another bogey.'' The champion's only real wobble came just after the start of the back nine -- but that cracking shot at the second last banished any creeping complacency.

"I ran into a little trouble on 11 and 12 which was just daydreaming and then all of a sudden they didn't make birdies on 13, 14, 15, 16 and I eagled 17,'' he said.

After that it was game over.

"Mike wasn't making some of the birdies that he was making yesterday. He played much more solid yesterday and didn't get any putts. Today he putted a little better and didn't hit it very solid,'' Conley said.

"I think he and PJ were a little worried about second place on those last two holes and they forgot about me.'' Paying tribute to the Open's organisers, Conley said: "I always love coming back here. I think they are doing great things -- they've made some changes, there's more people, the purse is coming up and the course is getting better.

"It's a lot of fun, you hit every club in the bag -- the short holes are tough and the long holes can play easy. There are probably one or two birdie holes every six holes and that's it -- you can't play those last five or six holes needing two birdies to win because you probably won't.'' Disappointed at not being able to retain his title, Cowan still found time to praise the new holder.

"You always want to try and win again once you've won it last year,'' the impish American said. "But Timmy played great. I played behind him all day yesterday and saw him hit it straight as an arrow -- today he did the same thing. The hardest holes on the golf course are the ones he bogeyed, which is probably what half the field did so there was no loss for him really.'' Cowan said he realised around the 13th hole that the title had slipped from his grasp.

Conley lifts Open title From Page 25 "He (Conley) was gone. From then it was a cat fight between me and Mike.

There was no scoreboard so we didn't know somebody else was already in. All I knew was it was between me and Mike with five holes to go,'' he said.

A fan of blustery weather, Cowan was disappointed by the calm conditions for most of yesterday.

"There was no wind today. I asked for wind before the tournament started and I got it yesterday and shot 68 for the round of the day. I play harder in windy conditions,'' he said adding "We'll try again next year.'' Donald bemoaned his erratic play after his final round 73.

"I got off to a pretty good start, made some birdies early. Then I made a couple of bad shots and to Tim's credit when I made a couple of birdies he was staying right with me,'' he said.

"Then I let him get away from me but on nine, 10, 11 and 12 I got right back in it. I was only two behind but he made another great putt and I played very ratty the last four holes.

"Once I made bogey at 15 I knew he'd won the golf tournament. As long as he kept it out of the ocean on 16 I knew the tournament was over.

"At that point I was trying to hold PJ off and beat him for second. Then I came in and found someone had shot 66. In hindsight I wish I had known, I wish there'd been a scoreboard and I would have known what the situation was,'' added Donald, who said he would have hit a safer tee-shot off 17 to consolidate his position.

Marseille said he hadn't dreamt of finishing so high up the leaderboard after scores of 72, 75 and 74 over the first three rounds.

"Teeing off I sure didn't think I was going to tie for second,'' he said. "I was eight over par after three rounds but that's the best round I've ever had here and I've been playing this golf course for 23 years.'' Meanwhile the tournament's inaugural Seniors event ended in a tie between Delroy Cambridge and Jay Dolan III who carded scores of 227 after 54 holes and took home $2,000 each.

Bermuda's Nick Mansell took the Graham Lynn Memorial Trophy for the best amateur performance -- his 300 was three better than runner-up Blake Marshall.

Full results, see Scoreboard Photos by Nigel Richardson Sand hassle: Tim Conley found the bunker on the 12th, but even that slip-up couldn't prevent him from taking the 2000 Bermuda Open title at Port Royal yesterday. Conley led the event from start to finish to win the $12,000 first prize.

Wood you believe it: Open runner-up Mike Donald (right) leans into a tree for this tricky shot on the 17th hole. Donald shared second place with Craig Marseille. Meanwhile, last year's champion, PJ Cowan (below) had to settle for fourth.