Jericho, New York on Sunday, is well known to Bermuda golfers. For three straight years, 1988, '89 and '90, he won the Belmont Invitation Championships, and currently shares the tournament record of 266 with Canadian Ian Doig. He has also played regularly in the annual matches between the Bermuda PGA and the New England PGA. The following report appeared in yesterday's Rhode Island Providence Journal.

On the day of perhaps his greatest accomplishment as a golfer, Dana Quigley, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, lost his father and best friend.

After holing out a two and a half foot putt for par on the third play-off hole to defeat Jay Sigel in the $1 million Senior PGA Tour Northville Classic in Jericho, New York on Sunday, Quigley received his trophy and threw his hat to the crowd and his arms around his wife, Angie.

But while the crowd was still cheering him, Quigley was handed a cellular phone. His brother, Paul, was calling from Roger Williams Medical Center with the news that their father, Walter (Wally) Quigley, had died at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer.

Dana Quigley collapsed on the ground in tears.

"He was there with me today,'' Quigley, his voice choked with emotion, said after recording his first tournament victory as a member of the Senior Tour.

"He was there for sure.

"I played in a Pro-Am here on Wednesday, and I went and saw him on Thursday morning. I spent about an hour with him. Don't get me wrong, but I didn't think I'd ever see him again. And I asked him to try and stay alive long enough to see me win a tournament. It's really hard for me to talk about it, but I know he was with me. It's tough when your father is your best friend.'' Wally Quigley, who also is survived by his wife, Dot, his son Paul, one of New England's top amateur golfers, and his daughter, Donna, was especially an inspiration to Dana, who walked away from the PGA Tour in 1982 because of problems with alcohol.

Dana Quigley took a job as the director of golf at Crestwood Country Club in Rehoboth, and has put his life back together over the last 13 years. Wally, a gregarious man, spent a lot of time working around the pro shop at Crestwood, which allowed him to spend time with his son.

As Dana approached his 50th birthday, he struggled with the idea of trying to earn a living on the Senior Tour.

"When I left the PGA Tour, I did it to provide for my kids,'' Quigley said.

"That's why I took the club job -- to calm down and do the right thing. I had mixed emotions about coming out here and playing on this tour. He was a big inspiration to me, showing me more than telling me. Both he and my mother supported me through so much -- through my drinking problems, everything.

"Over the winter, I talked with him about (the Senior Tour) a lot: I wanted to do it, how could I do it, how would I pay the bills? He wanted to know if I was really sure about it. Well, everything I've tried to do since then has proved that it was the right decision. I forgot about my feelings. A lot of this was for him, just to make him proud of me.'' To gain entrance to the Northville Classic, Quigley had to play in a qualifier last Monday, as he's had to do most of his rookie season on the Senior Tour.

He shot 65, the low round of the day at the Meadow Brook Club, and earned himself a berth. He then shot consecutive rounds of 67 on Friday and Saturday to tie for the tournament lead with Walter Hall and Jose Maria-Canizares entering Sunday's final round.

Quigley shot a two-under 70 on Sunday to finish in a tie with a charging Sigel, who had rallied from four shots back to force a play-off. In the play-off, Quigley and Sigel both bogeyed their first hole, a 167-yard par-three, and parred the second, a 401-yard par-four.

Both reached the green of the third play-off hole in three. Quigley putted first from about 75 feet and got within two and a half feet to set up his par putt. Sigel, a two-time winner this year, three-putted from 35 feet.

"I think (my father) was kicking out Sigel's putts,'' said Quigley, who with the victory earned $150,000 and the right to play on the Senior Tour for a year without qualifying. He now has won $303,907 in eight tournaments, five of them as a qualifier.

Wally Quigley's presence also seemed to be felt on Sunday in Grand Blanc, Michigan, where his grandson, Brett Quigley, was competing in the Buick Open.

Brett, Paul's son, has had more downs than ups in his first year on the PGA Tour. But he shot 68 on Sunday to finish tied for 11th place, earning him $16,250, his biggest cheque of the season.

"We were following both of them on computer,'' said Paul Quigley from his home in Barrington. "(Brad) Faxon kept calling, my daughter kept calling.

"It was a tough day, but my father has fought cancer for 15 or 20 years in four different locations. The last place was his lung. He's been suffering for the last 23 days, and I really think he just ran out of gas.

"Dana told dad he was going to win one for him, and he did. I talked with my father on Saturday night and I don't know if he could hear me or not. I think he did, and I hope he did. But I told him Dana was going to win this one for him, and somehow he did.

"It's a sad time, but it's a happy time, too. He went out on a good note. I think there was a happy ending. I know he'd be happy.'' Dana Quigley returned to Rhode Island yesterday to help his family with the funeral arrangements. He's unsure if he'll be able to play in this week's First of America Classic, which begins on Friday in Ada, Michigan.

"It's kind of funny,'' he said. "I've finally become an exempt player and I'm going to miss the first week. My mother wants me to play, but I don't know what the rule is about missing the Pro-Am, or if they allow for extenuating circumstances.'' Quigley says he's dedicating the rest of his professional career to his father. He says he wants to use his position as a Senior Tour member to work with children. "Anything I can do to make a difference,'' he said.

"You know, he battled the last 10 years and he just had the greatest attitude,'' Quigley added, his voice breaking. "He never complained once. If I had the guts he had, I'd win out here every week.'' DANA QUIGLEY -- pictured during his last Belmont Invitation triumph in 1990.