Look for a defending champion in 1996 at the 90th Southern Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst. That's something that hasn't happened much in recent years as most of the winners turn pro before defending.

Such wasn't the case with Justin Leonard of Dallas, who won back-to-back titles in 1992 & 1993 before turning pro shortly after graduation from the University of Texas in the spring of 1994.

And such isn't the case with Lee Eagleton, a special invitee from Melbourne, Australia. After earning an impressive come-from-behind victory at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, Eagleton said he would not turn pro until 1997 in hopes of earning a chance to represent Australia in the 1996 World Amateur Team Championship. Therefore, his plans are to return in '96 to defend.

Eagleton, 22, was among seven Australians who were in the U.S. to play the summer amateur circuit. Four received special invitations to the Southern Amateur and the other three were in the field by virtue of having played as collegians in the Southern area. Of the seven, three finished in the top 30.

Eagleton was the second non-American to win the Southern Amateur title, preceded by Mexican Rafael Alarcon, who was a student at Oklahoma State University when he won in 1979 at the Country Club of North Carolina.

At Holston Hills Country Club, Eagleton edged Paul Simson of Raleigh, North Carolina by two strokes, 274 to 276. Never far off Simson's lead, Eagleton had a final round of six under par 66 on the venerable 6,910 Donald Ross course, marking the fourth time the Southern has taken its championship to this wonderful site.

Simson, 44, led Eagleton by three, five and two strokes the first three days as he attempted to duplicate his victory earlier in the summer at the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst, another of the prestigious summer amateur events.

But in the final round, Eagleton made three consecutive birdies on the front nine to take the lead, then added four more on the back to nearly equal Simson's opening 65, the low score of the week.

P. J. Smith of nearby Morristown, Tennessee, was third at 277. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson of Memphis, who won the Tennessee State Amateur at Holston Hills in 1994, was among three players tied for fourth at 279.

"It's a great thrill to win th is tournament," Eagleton said. Perhaps speaking for the entire Australian contingent, he added, "We came here this summer to play in six or seven tournaments, to see how our games measure up against the Americans." Though small in numbers, at Holston Hills the Aussies measured up quite well.