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NORTON - Winning the AAGA Open is difficult enough, what with four various courses, a quartet of climatic variations and a cast of competitive characters all contending for the championship.

But to lead the Attleboro Area Golf Association's Open from day one, being atop the leaderboard all four days, is an unquestionable test of temperment and talent - and Billy White certainly has the latter.

From Day No. 1 at the Foxborough CC when he created a two-shot lead for himself, through the close of 72 holes of competition Sunday at the Norton CC, White fended off a flurry of final-round challenges to earn himself his first AAGA Open championship.

"The first day, Thursday I was nervous," said the 42-year old White, the reigning club champion at the Norton CC. "Every year, everybody you ask, there's a lot of pressure."

Pressure? How about, after bogeying two of the first four holes, his lead slips to four shots. And then he chips in from 70-feet away on the fringe of the No. 6 hole for a birdie!

Pressure? How about, after skulling a shot across Oak St. out of bounds at No. 10, potentially he could see a three-shot lead at that juncture slip to one shot, perhaps even be tied.

And then he drains a 40-foot bogey putt on the toughest pin placement on the course!

White finished his final round with a 2-over-par score of 73 and captured the 2007 AAGA sweepstakes with a 72-hole score of 6-over-par 290.

That was tantalizing enough, but he won the title by an eight-shot margin!

"We played Wednesday night and I shot a 33 and he shot a 41," said runnerup Ryan Riley. "Maybe that was a little incentive, but really, he's playing more this year and he's playing with a lot of confidence. He played steady - he found his game."

And no one was going to touch White, who entered the final 18 holes at his home course, with a six-shot lead.

Riley finished with a round of 75 (11 pars, three birdies) and took second place at 298.

Scott Congdon, who, with Riley, was a half-dozen shots behind White teeing off shortly before noon Sunday, also carded a 74 (13 pars, one birdie) and shared third place with 2006 runner-up Derek Johnson (74) at 300, 10 shots off the championship pace.

Ned Sweeney (74) and Tate Asselin (75) of the Norton CC, took the No. 5 and 6 spots respectively with four-day scores of 303 and 304 respectively, while Mansfield High's Grant Certuse (78; 305) and three-time AAGA Open kingpin Billy Vine (77; 306) were next in line among the top 10 finishers. "With a six shot lead, I just wanted to play my game," White explained of using his driver often off the tee and playing to win, not protecting the lead. "I figured those guys (Riley, Congdon) would have to make a lot of birdies. If I played just par golf, they'd have to shoot a low number."

White had birdie chances on 11 holes and closed with birdies at No. 16, 17 and 18.

But, White won the AAGA Open title well before that - when he chipped in at No. 6 and salvaged a bogey at No. 10.

White had hit into sand traps at the No. 2 and 4 holes, both times having to settle for bogeys. In the meantime, Congdon had inked five-straight pars on his scorecard, to close within four shots. Riley had double-bogeyed No. 2 (with a three-putt), but came back with a birdie at No. 3 and was five shots back heading down the No. 6 fairway.

White placed his second shot on the 438-yard, par-4 junket on the fringe of the left side of the green, some 70 feet away. Instead of trying to hammer a putt close, White took out a 7-iron and laced a shot on a downward slope toward the cup - and it went in for a birdie.

"That was the first good thing to happen to me, there's a lot of green there and I was trying to get some good speed," said White. "Scott was playing great, he was putting the pressure on."

Congdon flew a great wedge shot to within a foot of the No. 9 cup for a birdie, Riley had knocked down a 25-foot biride putt at No. 7, so at the turn White had a four shot lead on the former, five on the latter.

"After the front nine, I just wanted to make some good shots," said White. "Once we made the turn, knowing where we all were, then it became match play."

And it almost became a one-shot margin.

Because at the rather unassuming 348-yard No. 10 hole, White strayed his drive well to the left, behind a bunker. Riley had himself a 40-foot birdie putt from the front of the green, well below the hole and Congdon was pin-high to the left, an 8-foot birdie putt about to be addressed.

"I said to myself, 'This can't happen,'" exclaimed White, who shanked his second shot across Oak St., out of bounds. He dropped a ball and hit it onto a high mound on the left, frontside portion of the green, 40-feet away from the cup, which not only well-protected in the right corner, but offered a rolling curve of an avenue for access.

"To get that far and make one swing like that, it was an awful feeling," said White, who now faced the prospect of, perhaps, a double-bogey at best considering his lie. And if Congdon makes his birdie putt, the lead might have shrunk to a shot.

All White did was deflate the hopes of both Congdon and Riley by rolling the putt into the cup.

"I felt good, I felt confident," said Congdon, before and during his round. "I felt that if I could roll some putts (he was 1-for-8 on frontside birdie putts), I'd make a move. On the frontside, I wanted to play smart, don't hit stupid shots, don't waste shots."

But after White had drained that drama-filled bogey putt, Congdon sprayed his drive at the No. 11 hole into a hazard along the right side of the fairway and then missed a 5-foot bogey putt. That was bad enough, then Riley three-putted from within four-feet for a double bogey at No. 16.

"That started my downward momentum," said Congdon of No. 11. "I squandered a lot of chances," added Riley.

"For him (White) to make that putt at No. 10, that was the turning point," continued Riley.

Because from that point on, other than a double bogey at No. 15 (taken by all three of the final threesome) White was all business. He hit the cup with his approach shot at No. 14 and then drilled the first of three straight birdie putts, from 35-feet out, below the cup on the par-3 No. 16 hole.

"On the 16th, I just wanted to kick it on the green and two-putt," said White. "After that (birdie), the pressure was off."

The pressure was on, starting the 72 holes of the 2007 AAGA Open. The pressure was on, solving the greens at the Foxborough CC. The pressure was on, maintaining his sub-par score after touring Wentworth Hills. The pressure was on, not succumbing to a quadruple bogey at No. 18 at the Highland CC.

"To think that I shot under par from the back markers at Foxborough and then continued to play well, it was a great feeling," added White. "I took my driver out, that's how I play. I like to throw it in close." And make a few championship shots along the way.

Final Round Scores

NORTON - Scores and relation to par Sunday from the fourth round of the 47th annual Attleboro Area Golf Association Championship tournament, played at the par-71, 6,546-yard Norton Country Club:

Billy White 71-71-75-73-290 +6

Ryan Riley 77-76-70-75-298 +14

Scott Congdon 74-77-72-74-300 +16

Derek Johnson 76-73-77-74-300 +16

Ned Sweeney 78-72-79-74-303 +19

Tate Asselin 83-73-73-75-304 +20

Grant Certuse 81-72-74-78-305 +21

Bill Vine 75-76-78-77-306 +22

Ray LeBlanc 77-77-70-84-308 +24

Bruce Congdon 78-76-78-77-309 +25

Michael Pyne 77-78-75-81-311 +27

Anthony Duva 80-77-79-76-312 +28

Mike Finocchi 83-79-72-78-312 +28

Greg Brastow 73-81-77-81-312 +28

Dan Tinkham 77-72-79-84-312 +28

David Yurek 80-74-79-81-314 +30

Bert Bouley 79-77-80-78-314 +30

Marc Forbes 82-76-73-85-316 +32

Brenden Smith 83-74-79-80-316 +32

Justin Guimond 78-82-79-77-316 +32

Scott MacLeod 76-78-81-82-317 +33

Daniel Burns 83-77-81-76-317 +33

Brandon Nolan 84-77-71-86-318 +34

John Renner 80-77-81-80-318 +34

Mike Douillette 79-75-83-82-319 +35

John Vine 79-81-82-77-319 +35

Scott King 81-75-84-79-319 +35

Greg Burns 77-82-77-85-321 +37

Mike Michel 77-83-78-83-321 +37

Justin Ciombor 83-79-81-79-322 +38

Roy Murphy 84-78-73-87-322 +38

Shawn Seybert 76-80-80-87-323 +39

Mark Metcalf 82-80-77-84-323 +39

Robert Beattie 83-77-83-81-324 +40

Patrick O'Hara 85-78-81-80-324 +40

Bill Sampson 79-75-83-88-325 +41

Peter Dattman 85-73-84-83-325 +41

Rit Bouchard 75-83-80-88-326 +42

Bob Thresher 87-77-83-79-326 +42

Richard Bracker 84-79-81-83-327 +43

Non-exempt

Bud Chatfield 82-80-79-87-328 +44

Dan O'Brien 84-80-75-90-329 +45

Steve Finocchi 82-82-78-88-330 +46

Rob Butler 84-80-79-87-330 +46

Jay Poirier 82-81-82-85-330 +46

Ken Dumas 85-78-83-89-335 +51

Brett Lareau 84-78-88-89-339 +55

Jay Merry 79-85-82-96-342 +58

Bill Gaskin 82-82-86-93-343 +59

Kolby Simmons 83-80-99-91-353 +69