hole to recover and finish yesterday's third round in fine fashion, winning the Lobster Pot Invitational Pro-Am Tournament at Castle Harbour by three strokes.

Going into the final round tied for the lead on 264 with their own number one team and closely pursued by as many as five others, Avila II managed to survive the late challenge and win comfortably. On Tuesday, Avila II won the gross crown, beating Wannamoisett County Club by six strokes.

Yesterday the Tampa-based club wrapped up the double when they clinched the net title by finishing with a three-round score of 396 followed by Woburn CC and Oakland CC on 399 and Avila (I) on 402.

However the professional of Avila II, seasoned campaigner Jim Blanks, did not expect them to cruise home to victory -- at least not after they made a mess of things on the seventh.

"We made a bogey and then a double-bogey and lost three shots on that one hole,'' said Blanks who admitted to being quite frustrated when that occurred.

He added: "We had to gear it up, jump on each other's throat and then we started to come back. And when we got on the back side we started to play pretty good.'' The wake-up call had positive effects within a short span as the team was able to make the turn three-under and then continue their upward climb on the back nine when they played some of their best golf of the tournament.

Blanks commended his players for being able to recover after some brief sloppiness, but he made it no secret that he was about to give up hopes after the episode on the seventh.

"At the time I really thought we had thrown it away, but then we came back and shot a 62 on the back side which did it,'' said Blanks who helped them to a round of 132 for the day.

They finished off in a blitz by scoring birdies on the last four holes -- a climax which the professional claimed as being their highlight of the day.

"They really finished off strong,'' he said of members Allan Reeves III, Carry Williams and Bill Garrett. "Nobody choked at all,'' he joked.

But it was the Avila first team that Blanks reckoned would have the best chance at winning going into the final round. Instead of being serious challengers though they struggled and could only manage a 138 to finish six strokes behind the champions.

"We also thought we had an excellent chance of winning when we started the final round,'' said Tim King, professional of Avila I.

"We just did not perform well out there today. we went out to do the best we could but it just didn't happen. We didn't make enough putts. We were four-under at the turn and only shot even par on the back.'' Their troubles came earlier than their second team's with Avila I starting soundly and going four-under after three holes before turning in a team bogey on the fourth.

"From there on anything bad that could happen did happen. We just didn't do well at all,'' said King.

The team making one of the more dramatic challenges was Woburn who went into the round eight strokes behind the leaders and finished just three strokes short with their impressive round of 127 -- easily the lowest score of the day.

The one day Pro-Am saw Towson Golf and Country Club (II) record a low net socre of 132 followed by Rolling Road on 134 and Beaver Creek and Kings Creek 137.