he fired a four-under-par 66 to carve out a three shot lead in the opening round of the Belmont Invitational yesterday.

Winner of this event in 1991, 1993 and last year, the Nike Tour pro took full advantage of the benign conditions to post a superb round which included six birdies against just two bogeys.

His nearest pursuers are Bermuda's number one pro Dwayne Pearman, winner of the Invitational in 1992, Fran Marrello, who won in 1994, and fellow American Bob Mucha, all of whom carded 69s.

A further shot back on even-par 70 was local veteran Eardley Jones, who registered one of his best competitive rounds for many years to take an early lead in the senior division.

Defending amateur champion Nicholas Mansell took a big step towards retaining his title with a one-over par 71, a score matched by St. George's pro Kim Swan, first time visitor Brent Smith and US pro Tom Sullivan.

But the day belonged to Conley who owns a Belmont best of 63, registered during a Goodwill round several years ago.

He couldn't quite match that yesterday but there were no complaints after he'd begun his round on the back nine yesterday with two bogeys in the first three holes.

"All in all it was a good round,'' conceded Conley afterwards. "It's the first time I've played on Bermuda grass for a while and it takes time to adjust.

"Hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of the week.'' Conley, who won a Nike Tour event in St. Louis earlier this year as well as a Hooters Tour tournament, the Kansas State Open championships and three mini-tour events in Florida, began well with a birdie at the par-five tenth.

But he then quickly gave away that shot by three-putting the par-five 11th for a bogey six and a bad chip at 12 led to another bogey.

However, from that point in there were no further hiccups. A birdie at 17 brought him back to even par and further birdies at one, four, five and eight completed an impressive opening round.

Conley would be the first to admit, though, with three rounds remaining there's a still a lot of golf to be played.

Ocean View pro Pearman, seemingly back to his best form after injury problems, was two-under-par at the turn before dropping a shot on the back nine. And he'll be aiming to close the gap today as will both Mucha and Marrello.

American Paul Parajeckas, a perennial challenger, would have been much closer had it not been for a triple bogey eight on the treacherous par-five 11th, many players' nemesis on the short but tight Belmont track. He still shot 72 and trails by six.

Also returning 72 was Douglas (Blip) Morris who is just one behind Mansell in the amateur division, while Ronnie Milton (73), Larry Simons (73), Zane DeSilva (74) and Joey McRonald jr (74) are all still very much in the hunt in that category.

TIM CONLEY -- The Atlanta pro charged into a three-shot lead with a sizzling 66 in the opening round of the Belmont Invitational yesterday.