Moments after winning the men's Bermuda Amateur Match Play Championship on Saturday, Cy Kilgore's first thought was a telephone.

Standing on the 16th green at Mid Ocean Club, where he had just finished clinching a three and two victory over Mark Dupuy in the final, Kilgore broke short the celebrations to place an important call to his father in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

And afterwards, Kilgore was moved to tears when asked about the reaction. "He was very excited,'' he said, choking back the emotion.

Sam Kilgore has cancer. A member at Mid Ocean, he was released in January after 11 weeks in hospital. He and Cy usually team up to play in the Founders tournament at Mid Ocean but he was too sick to participate this year.

This was Kilgore's fourth appearance in the Bermuda Amateur and he had never won anything more than a Lame Duck prize -- for those eliminated early from the five other flights -- two years ago.

Between that and his father, he was almost overwhelmed.

"I'm bringing this home for him,'' said Kilgore, groping for words.

"To win a country's championship, that's wild. I mean, I never even dreamed of it. I've won a few things at home, but this ... '' Kilgore has a self-deprecating sense of humour about his golf game but is gracious around others. He described the 36-hole final as "a grind'' and called Dupuy, who lost in the final for the second straight year "a wonderful player.'' He and Dupuy played a magnificent first 18, with Kilgore plowing through at even par and taking a one-up lead into the afternoon session. That's the way they stood through the first eight holes when disaster struck Dupuy at the turn.

He bogeyed the ninth and tenth holes then lost his ball for another bogey on the 11th. Kilgore, meanwhile, managed par on all three -- not an easy feat in itself considering the wind.

"That was the turning point,'' Dupuy said.

Still, the reigning Bermuda strokeplay champion managed to fight back. Down four shots heading to the 12th, he made a splendid par and watched as Kilgore's pitch out of the right bunker came up 20 feet short of the pin for bogey. Suddenly, the gap was only three.

"I was so nervous after I got four up,'' Kilgore admitted.

Which explains why he also bogeyed the next two holes. Fortunately, Dupuy couldn't capitalise, leaving his drive on the par three 13th 20 yards short of the green and then putting together a disastrous sequence on the par four 14th.

"That was inexcusable,'' Dupuy said of a second shot that landed in the front bunker and a third that sailed over the green and bounced to the edge of the cart path.

Facing the daunting prospect of being four down with four holes to go, Dupuy said he didn't feel the need for four straight birdies. But he got one anyway with a five-foot putt on the par five 15th -- Kilgore's ten-footer lipped out -- but came up with another forgettable effort on the par-four 16th.

Both were on the green in two but Dupuy was left with what he later called an "impossible'' 22-foot downhill putt for birdie and, then, an eight-footer the other way for par. Both missed and he conceded the match.

"I was a little disappointed with the way I played this afternoon,'' he said.

"But I can't stress enough (that) you can't take anything away from Cy. He deserved to win.'' The victory capped a remarkable week of golf for Kilgore. He shot a decent 77 during the qualifying round -- after being four over after four holes -- and then beat Blake Marshall in Friday's semi-final, a match in which he was four down after seven holes.

KING CY -- Cy Kilgore shows the form that carried him to the Bermuda Amateur Match Play Championship at Mid Ocean. The Marblehead, Massachusetts, native beat Mark Dupuy in Saturday's final.