Bermuda Golf Association (BGA) President Nick Mansell is looking forward to what he predicts will be an exciting and competitive 2013 Bermuda Open.This year’s 72-hole stroke play event will be held from Monday to Thursday at the 6842-yard, par 71 Port Royal Golf Course.A total of 26 professional (18 overseas and eight local) and 11 amateurs will compete for the $9,750 in prize money made up entirely of entry fees.Those most likely to be thick in the hunt for top honours include overseas pros Ian Doig, Joe Horowitz, Bill Walsh and Brian McCann and local duo Dwayne Pearman and Daniel Augustus to name a few.“I think we have a quite few contenders in there especially from the overseas guys,” Mansell said. “Ian is going to be dangerous as well as players like Joe Horowitz, Brian McCann and Delroy Outerbridge.”Augustus is the defending Bermuda Open champion who Mansell believes has a good chance of retaining his title.“Daniel has been working out and has lost a lot of weight and slimmed down and I think he can be a dangerous factor again,” he said.Mansell said the field at next week’s Bermuda Open can expect to have their work cut out for them at Port Royal’s challenging course.“The guys will find the course a challenge, especially the fact that when it’s windy the greens tend to play a little faster so it’s going to be interesting,” he added. “The winds can pick up at any moment so that’s going to be a challenge for them.“I do believe the wind is going to die down for most of the tournament so hopefully these guys will have a lot fun with it. But the temperature could also be a challenge because it’s not easy playing in the cooler weather. Winter has not been overly nice to us but the course is holding up.”Mansell is delighted to see an increase in the number of pros competing this year.“We definitely have a much larger number of pros this year,” he said. “We have 18 from overseas so we are really excited about that and looking forward to a great tournament.”This year will see the Bermuda Open return to its original format which is that of a genuine open with all participants (professional and men and ladies amateurs) playing off the black tees.“We wanted to move the Open back to make it it’s own rightful event that it should be,” Mansell said. “We’re really trying to get this whole thing moving again and we think we are definitely going in the right direction. This is one of our national events that we run so we are very proud of the event.“It’s unfortunate we don’t have any sponsors this year. But we are still looking forward to having a good turnout.”The Bermuda Open has traditionally been held in October but has been forced to make way for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.“Obviously we lost our spot in October to a much bigger event, but we don’t mind doing that,” Mansell said.