What figured to be a rout turned into a battle for Mark Dupuy and Madeline Joell at the Bermuda Amateur Strokeplay Championships.

Entering yesterday's final round with five-shot leads over their nearest challengers, the two survived a couple of potentially disastrous breakdowns to capture the men's and women's titles at Port Royal Golf Course.

Dupuy, a 31-year-old from Scotland, drained two crucial putts down the stretch to hold off Duncan Zelkin by five strokes for the Tony Lema Memorial Trophy -- his first major victory in more than four years of play on the Island.

And Joell, frustrated by slow play in front of her, produced a bizarre round of five birdies, four bogeys, two triple-bogeys and a double bogey to win by two strokes over Alisa Hardy.

Joell was the 1990 champion but has been quiet for the past couple of years, largely of her own choosing.

"But at the beginning of the year I made up my mind that I was either going to play more golf or I was going to quit,'' Joell said.

She chose the latter. And the new-found dedication resulted in club titles at Riddell's Bay, Mid Ocean and Port Royal, culminating with this week's 54-hole total of 229 for the Bermuda Open Championship Trophy.

Yesterday's score of 78, however, was almost enough to make her quit again.

After blazing through Sunday's second round in about three hours and 15 minutes, yesterday's threesome finished in just under five hours.

"I just struggle in slow play,'' Joell said. "I found it very difficult to keep my concentration.'' Joell's three-over seven on the 328-yard fifth hole and two-over six on the 329-yard ninth enabled Hardy to close within two shots through the front nine.

Then on the par-four 14th, Joell slumped to another triple-bogey -- despite hitting the fairway on her tee shot -- and suddenly it was tied.

But the turnaround served as a wake-up call, as Joell birdied the next two holes and just missed on number 17. "I needed that to keep me in focus,'' she said of Hardy's rally.

In contrast to Joell's roller coaster, Dupuy rode the straight track of steadiness, going 73, 74, 73, 73 over the four days. Not a long hitter, he was uncannily straight -- critical on Port Royal -- and had just one double bogey through the four days.

That's not to say there weren't a few tight spots, none more than on the 14th yesterday.

After watching Zelkin pull to within five shots with a short birdie putt on the 13th, Dupuy sent his second shot on the 14th into the bunker left of the flag and failed to make it out with his third. "Just a bad lie,'' Dupuy said.

"I tried to take a little more sand than I normally do and didn't hit it strong enough.'' The blast moved the ball about two feet and his his fourth shot barely found the green. Zelkin, meanwhile, came within a whisker of a birdie with a 20-foot chip and tapped in for par, leaving Dupuy with a treacherous 12-footer in order to avoid a two-shot swing.

He nailed it for a bogey and allowed himself to pump his right fist in relief.

"That would've been a big turnaround there for sure,'' he said.

But there was no rest on the par four 15th when a fine second shot took a bad hop into the rear bunker. Dupuy, his lead cut to four shots, blasted out in one but faced a downhill ten-footer to save par. He got a bit of a break from the third member of the group, 18-year-old Canadian Rory Scrymgeour, who ended up placing a distant third. The long-hitting lefthander just missed a par putt from nearly the exact same spot, providing Dupuy with a good indication of how it would roll.

"Those were the two best putts I made all week,'' he said.

Zelkin's hopes faded when he landed in the left-side bushes on the famous 16th and soared to a bogey six on the 17th.

But even with a five-stroke edge, Dupuy wasn't taking anything for granted.

"Sometimes when you try and play conservatively you end up making a mess of it,'' he said.

Asked when he finally figured the title was his, he said "not until I was standing on the 18th tee. Duncan's a good golfer and I've seen him make a lot of birdies before. (And) the 14th, 15th and 16th, you can make a double bogey on any of those holes pretty easily.'' But Dupuy conceded he was confident heading into the tournament. He lost in the final to Tim Carr in the Bermuda Match Play Championships in March and six weeks ago won the club championship at Port Royal for the third time.

"I probably know this course as well as anyone,'' he said.

Carr, arguably the pre-tournament favourite, never recovered from an opening-round 83 and finished with a four-day total of 319.

Complete results, Page 24 DOUBLE TROUBLE -- Mark Dupuy sank crucial putts to win the men's title while Madeline Joell survived a scare to capture the women's crown at the Bermuda Amateur Strokeplay Championships.