Patrick Horgan III came to Bermuda expecting to win the Gosling’s Invitational, and managed it, just.

A final round of two-under-par 68 left Horgan at nine under for the tournament, three shots ahead of Billy Walsh who had a one-over 71, with Brian McCann a shot further back after his 68.

Walsh and Horgan started the day tied at seven under, and even standing on the 18th tee, with Horgan holding a two-shot lead, the result was in question.

In trouble off the tee, Horgan needed a 15-foot putt to rescue par, and if Walsh’s birdie attempt from a similar distance had dropped, the pair could well have been heading to a play-off.

“I played 18 as a par five,” Horgan said. “I didn’t want to get too aggressive, and was looking to two-putt.”

The margin of victory was misleading and in truth the golf had been like that for much of the day, and even when Walsh was three shots up early on, the ebb and flow suggested a contest destined to go down to the wire.

“It was such a hard day, but I never gave up, that was the key, I kept grinding away,” Horgan said. “This course can get you on any hole, even on the easy holes it can happen.

“This is such different golf to what we all normally play, because we feel the course is out there for the taking, but you can never let down your guard because at any moment you can make a bogey or a double bogey.”

Horgan and Walsh made nine bogeys between them yesterday, and Walsh might look back on the three costliest ones and consider himself unfortunate to have been punished so severely for the smallest of errors.

Bogeys at 8 and 10 were the result of errant shots that on another day would have presented no greater challenge than getting up and down from the rough.

Yesterday, his drive at 10 skipped off the cart path, and flew into a roadside bush that even with taking an unplayable penalty, required him to return to the tee.

Coupled with back-to-back birdies for Horgan at 9 and 10 and the pair entered the back nine as they started the day, tied at seven under.

Horgan believes his birdie at 16, when he finally made a longish putt was the turning point, Walsh is liable to disagree. An eagle at 12 had given the Canadian a one-shot lead, and in the middle of the fairway at 13, he seemed back in control of his round.

His approach to the 13 green could hardly have been better, and the ball pitched just 18 inches passed the pin on the upper tier of the green. However, it then proceeded to spin back, rolling over the hole, and back down on to the lower tier some 20-feet away. Walsh’s birdie putt missed by inches, and he then missed a two-footer for par.

The momentum at that point swung in Horgan’s favour for the final time, and while the pair were tied at eight-under, birdies at 14 and 16 for Horgan gave him a two-shot lead that he ultimately never lost. Walsh’s bogey at the last was the result of chasing a birdie putt he simply had to make.

“PH [Horgan] played great coming down the stretch, he won it, I don’t think I gave it to him,” Walsh said.

“I started off really well, in total control, and then had a really bad break on 10. I hit it really well, over cut it a little bit, but I thought it was going to be fine, and it hit the cart path. I got ‘Belmonted’.

“Thirteen I hit the best wedge shot of the week, I thought I made it and then to have it spin down, and three-putt ... that’s golf for you. You get one bad little break and momentum changes.”

While Walsh and Horgan were battling it out for first, McCann was once again playing the role of bridesmaid.

The Canadian has played in the event for eight years and yesterday was, according to him, his sixth time in the top three.

McCann opened with two birdies, proceeded to bogey 3 and 5 missing presentable putts for par both times, dropped another shot at 6, got it back immediately at 7, and then missed birdie opportunities at 8 and 9, which would have taken him to six under and within two shots of the lead.

It was a similar story on the back nine, and missed opportunities were largely the story of McCann’s week.

“I gave myself an opportunity and just didn’t make the putts. I gave myself the chance, and that’s all you can ask for, I just didn’t capitalise on the putts,” he said. “I’ve only played [the event] eight times and finished in the top three six times.”

While McCann is still waiting for his first win, yesterday’s was Horgan’s third Gosling’s Invitational title, albeit eight years after the last one. Much has changed in that time for Horgan, not least his competitive approach to a tournament he put pressure on himself to win.

“I played well all week. I left some shots out there, but I finally got a couple of good putts to drop today, and I came over and accomplished what I wanted to do,” Horgan said. “I felt like I should be in contention, my expectations where to finish high in the tournament.

“Back then [in 2006], I was more or less biding my time, I’d been injured, I was 46 and wasn’t playing a lot, I had a different mindset, it was just another event to play in. But the last three years I have come over and played, I’ve been on the Champions Tour, so I came over much more competitive, more ready to play, and I had expectations to do well, and it’s so gratifying to do it [win].”