final with an eagle, Kim Swan could have crumbled.

Instead, the 39-year-old veteran from St. George's got tough.

Responding with five birdies over the next 16 holes, Swan yesterday defeated Pearman 2 and 1 to pick up the $1,500 first prize -- and his first victory in the tournament he helped start 15 years ago.

Pearman, who will team up with Swan to represent Bermuda in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Jamaica in October, collected $500, while Keith R.F.Smith defeated David James 2 and 1 for the $350 third prize.

Swan credited a rigorous training regimen and some new-found patience for his refusal to crack against arguably the Island's top golfer.

"My game plan was to play the course and not him,'' said Swan. "Even when he got the eagle (on the challenging par-five first hole), I just told myself, `Just play your game,' and everything just snapped into place on the second hole.'' Swan's birdie on the par three second tied the match and he followed with others on the fourth, tenth, 11th and 17th holes, the latter a five-foot putt to seal the win.

"I had been making birdies all week and that's what really made me feel confident today,'' he said. "I felt all I had to do was just create chances, keep the ball in play and don't get greedy.'' A red-hot putter also helped, particularly on the tenth, when, with Pearman only having to stroke a five-footer for birdie, Swan beat him to the punch by rolling in an 18-foot snake of his own.

"That was a pivotal hole for me,'' he said. Also pivotal was the 15th, when Pearman couldn't convert a four-footer for birdie.

Swan bogeyed the par-three 16th -- "I got a little too aggressive,'' he said -- to see his lead sliced to one but made up for it with a critical sandwedge off a sloping lie to within five feet on the 17th.

Pearman, who left the Island shortly after the tournament, is the pro at Ocean View but Swan, whose uncle was the pro on the nine-hole Devonshire course 30 years ago, didn't think that gave him any particular advantage. "I feel pretty much at home at Ocean View,'' he said.

Swan said the tournament was an excellent indication of where his fitness -- mental and physical -- stands, particularly with the PEI Classic on the Canadian tour coming up next month and the World Cup a month after that.