champion for a third time, having been eliminated in the semifinals of the championships yesterday at the Seaford Golf Club near Brighton in England.

Talbot, who won in 1988 and '91, was beaten six-and-five by Olivier LeCoco of France yesterday. Mike Bennett of the United States, who was the top qualifier on Wednesday, then beat the Frenchman in the final. They were three of the top four seeds.

Talbot never recovered from a bad start, which saw him lose the first four holes. "I really didn't putt good like I did yesterday,'' Talbot said.

"I stayed four down until I won the eighth hole. Then I made a bad chip on the ninth, which I lost and we shared the next three holes until the 13th, which I also lost. I really had a bad start by missing two four foot putts on the first two holes.'' Talbot admitted he simply was beaten by a better player and for that reason is not greatly disappointed at his failure to reach the final. "It came down to my putting,'' the Bermudian said.

"He (LeCoco) played well, I can't take that from him. I'm not really disappointed, the opposition this year was far better than in the past five years I've been coming to this tournament.

"It came down to where I missed a few putts and couldn't make it back. You have to have some sort of luck in this game. I did the best I could.'' Talbot is setting his sights on the 1994 tournament in Scotland.

QUINN TALBOT.