McDougal during a tournament in Northern Ireland last month the 32-year-old American had no idea his first visit to the island would prove to be so fruitful.

The professional from Overbrook Golf Club in Philadelphia pulled off a real coup yesterday when he brushed off a prominent field of golfers in the $35,000 tournament at Port Royal GC to win by one stroke, just beating out Canadian Craig Marseilles.

Fieger, who started the final round with a three-stroke lead, pocketed $8,600 on a day that saw him cap a fine performance with a two-over-par 73 and finish with an overall score of 280. Marseilles had a two-under-par 69 and followed on 281 while former winner Tim Conley had a three-over-par 74 and 284 overall.

Fieger, who found his way to the island as a result of the talks with McDougal along with a more recent conversation with an executive member of co-sponsors Mutual Risk Management, said that he does not regret taking up their offers.

Fieger was in a threesome that included his two closest challengers going into the day, Conley and Texan Carl Cooper, but neither gave him much of a challenge as they struggled for consistency throughout. Cooper was out of it early and finished with a whopping 83.

"The only real pressure on me was when I approached the 18th green. I was advised of Craig's score and knew that I needed to two-putt in order to pull it off, and fortunately I did,'' said the happy winner.

With Conley and Cooper unable to make any ground as the threesome reached the 11th and 12th, where Conley and Fieger bogeyed each hole, the new champion soon realised that his chances of withstanding their challenge looked sound.

Cooper was already far behind and virtually out of the picture, but Conley remained a bother of sort.

"Once Tim bogeyed the 14th the difference between us was four or five strokes and I felt pretty good, but I still had no idea what Craig had done. Pressure didn't reappear until the 18th when I did find out,'' said the relieved Fieger.

Marseilles, 34, of Toronto's National Golf Club started the day just four strokes behind the leader but made inroads with a two-under-par 69 in his second appearance at the Open. He was two-under-par 34 over the front nine and came home one over.

"I played very consistently all week, I only hit two drives off the fairway and I caught a lot of greens. But just think if I had made one less bogey,'' he said.

But for the man many expected to tear up the course and offer the leader a strong challenge in the end, Conley, just did not have it yesterday after scoring a sizzling five-under-par 66 in Saturday's third round.

His putter was extraordinarily out of gear and contributed to his average overall performance on the day when he carded a one-under 35 on the front nine and four-over 39 on the back.

Conley attributed his lacklustre showing to "personal problems'' back home in the US. "I'm surprised that I played well enough to win the Pro-Am on Wednesday, my mind is elsewhere at this time,'' he said after completing the final round yesterday.

"I came here thinking I would be refreshed after not playing competitively for a while. I didn't do a thing wrong on Friday with a 66 but today was a different story,'' he added.

Bob Mucha was third on 284 with Conley while defending champion McDougal was fifth on 287. Dwayne Pearman was the top local player on 292 for ninth place.

Tim Carr was the top amateur with a 310, beating Tony Readwin into second on 312. Noel Van Putten was third on 313.

CHAMPIONSHIP FORM -- Gene Fieger in action yesterday.

PASS IT ON -- 1991 Bermuda Open champion Ron McDougal, right, congratulates close friend Gene Fieger on this triumph yesterday.