not have been allowed to compete at this year's Goodwill Tournament, but hopes it is not a personal vendetta.

"I do agree with the Bermuda Golf Association's not allowing touring professionals to play in the Goodwill Tournament,'' said Conley, who captained Chateau Elan to the title last year. "If I was a working club professional and working in the shop 40 or 50 hours a week I wouldn't want to bring a team over here, spend a lot of money and find out that a touring professional is over here playing and his team is a strong team anyway. It would take some of the fun out of it.

"I just hope that it wasn't a personal thing against me. And we'll find out.

I haven't been out to watch the tournament as I don't want to stir up anything, but for my own satisfaction I'd like to look on the list and see how many mini-tour professionals are playing and then I'll see if I can take it personally.'' "We've (Chateau Elan) won twice in a row and as the people know that I'm not playing in the tournament this year for my own personal reasons. I feel that the qualifying tournament to get PGA card was more important than playing in the Goodwill.'' Indeed Conley is hoping to make a splash on the Professional Golfers Tour next year after gaining his tour card earlier this month.

He obtained the right to compete as an exempt member of the tour when he ended in a nine-man tie for the final qualifying spot at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at The Woodlands in Texas.

"It's about time,'' said Conley, the junior winner of last year's Goodwill pro championship. "I had it in 1984 as a non-exempt member and I played a little bit that year.

"The next year I tried to qualify for individual tournaments and I played six maybe seven tournaments in 1985 with very limited success.

"So I thought maybe going overseas to Europe would be a better proposition. I played on the European circuit for a year and all I did was spend money.'' Now the 34-year-old aims to cash in on his tour opportunity. "My career has taken two giant steps forward financially,'' said Conley, vacationing on the Island this week with his girlfriend. "My goal is to play at least three years on the tour which will probably get me $150,000 to $250,000 a year.

"I think I can get on the leaderboard this year, but it's like I'm starting all over again. I think each stage of tournament golf is a learning experience.

"My goal is to have my name on the leaderboard Sunday evening...Sunday's when they write the cheques out.'' This past year Conley has severed his relationship with Chateau Elan, whom he led to the team championship at the Goodwill Tournament two years in a row -- 1990 and 1991.

But now with a new set of investors behind him the Georgia native has a new lease on his career and aims to make it count.

Said Conley: "This spring, right after the Lobster Pot, I came back to Chateau Elan and that's where (owner) Mr. Panoz and I separated.

"I don't like to call it a sponsorship. He invested in me, he had a small return, I got to play a lot of golf but we had a lot of miscommunication problems occur.

"As far as I know now he may be interested (in investing) again some day and I may be too. It was not a vengeful, enviable relationship. It just didn't work out for the both of us.'' Depending on how many cuts he makes, Conley has set a target of between 30-35 tournaments for this year.

But he added that he has developed too many close ties here and even if he does hit the `big-time' he will keep coming back.

"I don't see why not,'' replied Conley when asked if he'll be competing on the Island next year. "As a matter of fact I committed to Fritz Reiter for his Lobster Pot tournament this year and I think it offsets the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at Palm Springs.

"It's like a second home to me over here. I know where to go to eat and things like that...I just feel real comfortable here.'' In addition to last year's Goodwill where he doubled up, winning the individual and team titles, he has captured the Bermuda Open, the Belmont Invitational and Lobster Pot titles.

Conley left the Island yesterday for Florida where he is set to team with another frequent visitor, Eddie Pearce, on the mini-tour in Florida.

IN THE ROUGH -- Joe Christiano and his Westchester teammates found it hard going at Mid Ocean yesterday.