yesterday, with dramatic failures by the challengers in the third round allowing the defending champion to distance himself from the field.

Second and third respectively entering the day, both Keith Smith and Cornell Bean endured dreadful outings at Mid Ocean, thus falling well off the pace.

Smith's eight-over-par 79 dropped him to third on 235, nine strokes behind Pearman, while Bean ballooned to 86, giving him a total of 246 and seventh overall.

Last night, Smith, the 1991 winner, expressed outrage at competitors having to play in foursomes, rather than being placed in pairs of even trios.

"No other place in the world do you have guys playing in a foursome in a tournament like that,'' said Smith. "You can't concentrate properly, because there's too many players and you spend a long time standing around waiting.

"It was the same thing yesterday (Wednesday)...taking five hours to finish a game is ridiculous.'' However, Smith added that poor work with the putter similarly contributed to his demise and he looked to rectify that aspect today.

St. George's club professional Kim Swan moved into second place based on his one over 72, however, staring at an eight-stroke deficit, with a single round remaining, he will likely improve no further.

Barring a major catastrophe Pearman appears odds-on favourite to capture his fourth PGA crown -- he enjoyed previous triumphs in 1987, 1991 and last year.

The improvement of weather conditions enabled Pearman to record his best score of the week, an even-par-71, which was also the day's best.

Pearman scorched through the front nine at one under before completing the back side at one over aided by four birdies, which offset a similar amount of bogeys and placed him firmly in the driver's seat heading toward today's finale.

Today has Pearman making the rounds as a member of a foursome also including Swan, Smith and Lloyd James. James surged from sixth to fourth based on a creditable 74 after being buried in the 80's over the previous two days.

It appears unlikely that any of the amateurs will achieve the goal of a pro card as it would take unbelievable final rounds by any to succeed.

Leader Michael Daniels currently stands at 241, but would need a 67 today in order to match the qualifying standard of 308, with his best thus far this week being a 78 on Tuesday.

Next in line is Clevie Tucker on 242 followed by Twilton Smith (246). Tucker and Smith weighed in with rounds of 76 and 81 respectively yesterday.

FUMES OVER FOURSOMES -- "You can't concentrate properly,'' said Keith Smith.