Riddell's Bay yesterday and then said: "I just love this tournament.'' MacKenzie, from Seminole, in Florida, added: "There are a lot of nice people here. You get a warm feeling just being here and it makes you want to play.'' He showed amazing consistency over the three rounds, shooting 71, 71 and 72 for an overall score of five-over-par 214. He improved on his winning margin of seven strokes at Belmont last year by two as playing partner Eddie Marshall finished second on 223.

MacKenzie felt his second round, played in wind and rain on Thursday, was what separated him from his opponents.

"I think the big difference was in the wind and rain. I seemed to get the breaks while others went up into the higher scores. If you look at the scores in the first and third rounds there was not so much difference.

"I love the wind and I love the bad weather. I play up at Seminole and there's a lot of wind and rain up there. I seem to be quite steady in that.'' The tournament figures seem to bear that out. After Wednesday's first round, MacKenzie was just one shot in the lead while just four strokes separated the top six players. But by Thursday night he had opened a seven-stroke lead over nearest challenger Marshall and was 10 strokes ahead of the other contenders.

MacKenzie continued: "Winning here last year gave me a lot of confidence and after that I played several other national tournaments such as the Seniors in England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. I finished runner-up in the Scottish so I'll be giving that another shot.'' And he vowed to return to Bermuda for a go at a third straight title next year.

Charlie Holden kept with the pace throughout to finish third on retrogression over Eldon Raynor as both carded 225. Holden shot a 74 in his final round while Raynor went two strokes better with a 72.

Noel Van Putten was a stroke further back after also carding 72 yesterday, while former winner Jack Wahl finished on 228.

Malcolm Gosling won the net division, his 15-handicap reducing his 247 to 202 for the tournament, while Tom Wilding finished runner-up.

Bermudian Diana Diel won the 36-hole Ladies' Championship by 15 strokes, carding 78 yesterday for an overall gross score of 162. Gill Riihiluoma hit a 91 yesterday but hung on to second place by five strokes from Lily Ly who carded 87. Peggy Thompson, playing off 24, was net winner on 146.

Full results -- see Scoreboard .

Photos by Tony Cordeiro TWO OF A KIND -- American Clark MacKenzie and Bermuda's Diana Diel held onto their overnight leads to claim the respective men's and women's titles in the Senior Amateur Golf Championships at Riddell's Bay yesterday.