discovered yesterday as he fired a two-over-par 72 to win the rain-shortened Bermuda Senior Men's Amateur Championships by seven strokes at Belmont.

McKenzie was one of only five players who completed their round in heavy rain on Thursday, carding a 72, only to find out later that the round had been cancelled because of the weather, reducing the tournament to 36 holes.

With local Noel Van Putten, who led by one shot after the first round, managing only a 78, and Stanton Ayer, in joint second place, quitting the tournament in frustration and returning to the United States, McKenzie would have been in good position after that second round.

But in the end, it didn't matter.

"I played with Noel Van Putten yesterday and on the seventh or eighth hole it was really pouring buckets and the other fella (Ayer) said `I can't believe we're out here playing' and that's when he left,'' explained McKenzie.

"Noel said `the tanks are getting filled, this is beautiful rain and let's just have fun' and that was our attitude.'' Yesterday McKenzie's wife urged him to go for another 72 and he did just that and ended up winning by seven strokes over Bermudian Alan DeSilva as Van Putten ballooned to an 85 to finish fifth, 12 strokes off the lead on 159.

Brendan (Bees) Ingham placed third on 155 with Jack Wahl fourth on 156.

"It's the kind of course which requires local knowledge,'' said McKenzie, the only scratch player in the field. "You have to know how to play it and all the locals here know how to play it, so I just watched them.'' McKenzie also played last year, having just become a senior, and finished fourth as Peter Tucker emerged triumphant. But this time there was no stopping him.

"I was two under going out (front nine) which put me in a real good position but had a couple of bad breaks coming in,'' explained the champion who also reached the quarter-finals of the US Seniors last year. "It's the kind of golf course where you can make double bogey in a minute.'' McKenzie has vowed to return next year to defend his title.