from Kim Swan to win the Ashworth BPGA Championship by two strokes at Castle Harbour Golf Club.

With a three-stroke lead entering the day's play Pearman refused to buckle under mounting pressure from Swan who one day previous had come from four back to tie Pearman before falling back.

Swan recorded a better round -- a two-over 73 -- but Pearman was able to ride the tails of a solid front nine to victory, carding a 74 for a four-round total of 284.

Pearman bent but would not break despite bogeys on 13, 14 and 17 where he seemed to suffer from a bit of nerves. On 17, the Port Royal professional hit the ball out of bounds and had to take a penalty drop, however he scrambled back nicely to make bogey, averting disaster.

"The door was wide open for me...I just didn't walk through it,'' lamented Swan. "There was never a time that I didn't think I could win it. I just didn't make the match-winning shots. I didn't make the putts.

Indeed, Swan had chances to really turn up the heat as his opponent struggled on the back nine.

After falling five back, Swan hit his tee shot on the par-three 13th to within 18 feet of the hole. However, he let Pearman off the hook, missing a birdie putt.

There was a similar occurrence at 14 as Pearman bogeyed and Swan squandered another birdie chance, this time missing from eight feet away.

"I missed a couple greens and put pressure on myself and gave him (Swan) more momentum,'' said Pearman, who also handed out credit to Don Panoz for his support for travel to overseas tournaments, which have boosted his game. "I think I was a little bit nervous, but if I wasn't I wouldn't be human.

"This is a nice way to start things off. After winning the Belmont Invitational I said to myself, `I want to win them all over again'.'' While Pearman basked in the glory of his third championship -- he previously won in 1987 and 1991 -- third-place finisher Steven DeCosta could take pride in what rates as his best performance as a pro.

The fourth-year pro played almost impeccably all week, capping things off with scores of 72 and 70 the final two days, which were the best rounds recorded on each of those days.

DeCosta still wound up 10 strokes behind the leader, but his showing could bode well for the future.

"I felt the same all week, played solid and today I made the putts,'' said DeCosta. "I set out to shoot 294 from the start and hit it right on the head.'' Meanwhile, Twilton Smith was the top amateur as he shot a 75 for the day and made up six strokes on overnight leader Clevie Tucker to post a three-round total of 320. But he was not close to the 308 needed to qualify for his pro card.

Tucker fell hard, dropping to third with an 83 for a 322 total. Mike Daniels came in second on 321.

GET IN -- Dwayne Pearman stands over a putt that stayed out.