Eileen Rose Power maintained the prestige of a highly-rated event by capturing the Statoil-sponsored Hermitage Women's Scratch Cup yesterday for a fourth time. As it happened, she was the only competitor to match the testing par of 73, morning or afternoon, and won by three strokes on 148.

Her closest challenger was the former British champion and Curtis Cup representative, Lillian Behan who, surprisingly, has not won this trophy. "The course doesn't seem to suit me," she claimed, despite being only two over par for the tournament after the second hole of the afternoon.

Two-tee starts allowed the organisers to meet a sensible schedule for a strong field of 69. Unfortunately, the new second green, bordered by an attractive pond and fountain to the left, wasn't quite ready for play but the new eighth green was, to the grief of most competitors.

A temporary green at the second, reduced the hole by 30 yards to a par-five of about 385 yards. The obvious advantage there, however, was more than offset by the difficulty of the eighth. This used to be a par-five for women but, under the new handicapping system, is now a formidable, 396-yard par four.

Though Behan was pin-high there with a drive and four iron in the afternoon, she ran up a double-bogey six in her morning round, largely through poor chipping. Power also suffered there, with a double-bogey in the afternoon when she was short in two and later three-putted.

For the majority of the field, the problem had to do with the overall length of the hole; the threat of out of bounds on the right and the fact that new sodding off the front of the green meant that balls were not running on.

Warrenpoint's Alison Coffey, recent winner of the Leinster Open title had the almost mandatory six there in the afternoon. It caused her to be edged out of third place on a countback by Sinead Keane of the Curragh. And how did she fare at the eighth? A beautifully-struck three-iron second shot left her seven feet from the pin and she just missed the birdie.

Power, who had previously won this trophy in 1987, 1988 and 1992, led by a shot from Keane at lunchtime after a 75 in the more difficult morning conditions. Highlights of that round were birdies at the second, which she chipped and putted, the fifth, where she sank a six-footer and the 394-yard 12th, which she reached in two for a two-putt four.

She then placed one hand firmly on the trophy through her play of the second in the afternoon. After a solid drive down the middle, she hit an equally crisp four iron which finished eight feet from the pin and the putt went down for an eagle three.

"I was striking the ball very nicely and kept mistakes down to a minimum for the remainder of the round," she said afterwards. In fact from there, her only concession to the course was the costly lapse at the eighth, where she ran up a six.

Meanwhile Behan in the next three-ball, was also two under par for her first two holes of the afternoon. She wedged to a foot for a birdie at the first and chipped to a putt for another birdie at the second. But her challenge faltered when she bogeyed the sixth (pulled drive) and seventh (three-putts).

On this form, however, she will be a strong challenger for the Irish title at Clandeboye later this month.