Orlando, Florida-Atlanta's Danny Yates brought the famed Bay Hill course to its knees in his final drive for the Southern Golf Association's 1974 championship.

The slender Yates shot an amazing 30, six under par,to take the field and win the 68th annual event by three shots over big Andy Bean, the University of Florida long-hitter.

Yates had trailed the leaders by four shots all into the final nine, then took command for good when he rolled in a tremendous 60-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole.

The amazing stroke was enough to put Bean and Vance Heafner, of North Carolina, in the position of having to gamble for birdies on the last three holes.

Yates' final round 69 gave him a 72 hole total of 281, three in front of Bean and five ahead of Heafner, who had made shambles of medalist honors with opening rounds of 67-68.

Actually, Danny thought the turning point probably came on the 568-yard 12th hole when he whistled a four wood shot within four feet of the pin for an easy birdie.

Yates eagled the final hole while trying to lag up for a par. He had risked a three-iron shot over the big lake guarding the green and sank another "snake" with a putt of over 30 feet. That was just icing on the cake.

Haefner,, of Cary, N.C., closed out with rounds of 75-76 for his 286 total.

Jerry Pate, who was later to win the National Amateur and had won the Florida Amateur previous to playing in the Southern, took fourth place with rounds of 72-72-70-73 while a couple of Georgians tied for fifth as Tim Simpson, of Atlanta, and Tifton's Joe Kunes both had 289 totals.

Gary Koch, Temple Terrace, Fla., and Phil Hancock Greenville, Ala., two of the pre-tournament favorites, took seventh and eighth with Koch's 290 total nudging Hancock by a stroke.

Heafner's medalist score enabled North Carolina to take the Bob Jones Four-Ball championship. Bill Harvey, Jamestown, N.C. (144); Dale Morey, SGA president from High Point, N.C. (147) and Jim Haney, Winston-Salem, N.C. (146) teamed with young Heafner's 135 for the team championship.