Ocean View pro Dwayne Pearman overcame a rocky start during the final round of last week?s Tour de las America?s Qualifying School B tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to qualify for the South American Tour.

The multiple Bermuda Open and former Belmont Invitational champion completed the 72-hole tournament in a three-way tie for fourth after carding a two-over-par 290 in favourable weather conditions.

The top five finishers of last week?s event all earned exemption to the South American Tour.

?This is good. Now if I want to play in a tournament I don?t have to go to the qualifier,? Pearman said. ?All I have to do is just go out there and try and make the cut because I?m exempted to play, which is good.

?If I want to go away for two or three weeks to play in tournaments I can go. So this is a good achievement and a start.?

Pearman has yet to decide which South American tournaments he will compete in, but has already set his sights on qualifying for next year?s PGA Qualifying School.

?I wanted to go this year but things didn?t work out,? he added. ?But now that I have somewhere to play, and hopefully I can play a couple of months on the South American Tour before giving qualifying school a go.

?I think I still have about three good years of golf left in me. So I?ll just see how things go from here.?

A two-under third-round score of 70 saw the Bermudian golfer head into the final 18 holes of the tournament at even par in second place ? a single shot adrift of leader and eventual winner Fernando Figueroa.

However, Pearman?s championship hopes quickly dissipated as he dropped three shots on the opening three holes of the final round to go to three over for the tournament.

?I played good golf for the first three days and really should have been well under par,? said Pearman, who remained at two over for the tournament after 36 holes.

?If I had putted better I could?ve been well under par. The greens were not bad, I just didn?t make the putts I thought I could?ve made.

?But other than that I was able to hit the ball really good. I thought I hit the ball pretty solidly to the green.?

Struggling to regain the putting form which had propelled him into the thick of contention the day before, the 44-year-old pro double- bogeyed the par four second hole and bogeyed the par three to fall off the pace.

Birdies at the par four fifth hole and par five tenth, however, breathed new life into the round as the Bermudian returned to one over with seven holes remaining.

And despite dropping another shot with a bogey at the par four 14th hole, to go back to two over for the tournament, Pearman responded with a succession of pars over the closing four holes to earn himself a highly creditable fourth place finish ? and more importantly exemption to the South American Tour.

?I am very pleased to qualify (for South American Tour),? Pearman continued. ?I was in second place going into the last day of the tournament. I got off to a bad start, but came back to finish strong.

?I had a good chance to win, had I played decent golf over the last round. But Figueroa played pretty good over the last round. . . he hits the ball very long.?

El Salvador?s Figueroa carded a four-under 68 on the final round to edge Argentine Angel Monguzzi by one stroke for the championship.

Frenchman Bertrand Coathalem finished third while German Marcel Haremza and Brazilian Philippe Gasnier finished in a three-way tie with Pearman.