successfully defended his senior crown at the Mid Ocean Invitation yesterday.

Each man soundly defeated their opposition with junior champ Cox a seven-and-six winner over Paul Evans while Stimets disposed of Charles Bailey five and four.

Cox sealed his win in championship style, burying a tricky 15-foot putt at the 12th, triggering off celebrations among the gallery on hand.

"It feels great to finally have the monkey off my back,'' a relieved Cox said after clinching. "My game was really clicking. It was one of those days where everything was down the middle and I was making good contact on drives, chips, putts, everything.'' "He hasn't missed a shot all day'' was Evans' plea at the 12th tee after Cox had scorched another mammoth drive down the fairway.

Conversely Evans miscued on several occasions, including a tee shot at number five that dove into the water hazard.

This proved the turning point in the match as the burly Evans fell four back and began to press a bit, which only resulted in him making more errors.

His putter let him down on several occasions and the steady Cox continued making pars to pull further away.

"I three-putted four times and everyone of them cost me,'' said Evans who hails from Massachusetts. "But I don't think that anyone would have beat Ricky the way he played today.

"It was fun to watch him. He played magnificently and made no mistakes.'' One of those three-putts came at the par-three number seven where Evans missed a `gimme' putt from a few feet that would have kept him in striking range.

As was the case all day Cox took advantage, sinking his ball for par and extending to four-up at that stage.

Such was the domination of Cox that Evans won just two holes -- the third and sixth -- over the second 18. Cox captured seven outright while the pair halved three holes.

Meanwhile, among the seniors, Bailey too ran into buzzsaw in the form of Stimets, who was not prepared to relinquish the crown he won last year from Jack Wahl.

Stimets won the first two holes and never looked back, finally shutting the door with a par at the 14th.

Like Cox, Stimets had his long and short games working in tandem and allowed his opponent to dig a hole from which he would not emerge.

"I played very steadily, just keeping the ball in play most of the time,'' said an elated Stimets. "It's really a thrill. I was pleased to win it last year and I'm happy about this one as well.'' Bailey blamed most of his troubles on his short game, but praised the effort put forward by Stimets on a day when conditions were tough with a stiff breeze blowing throughout.

The junior consolation final saw Steve Duxbury fend off the challenge of Peter Thompson three and two while in the senior consolation Wahl outduelled David Donahue to triumph four and three.

RICKY COX -- Solid performance.