WHILE only 27 players are contesting the Bermuda Open this week, the Gosling's Invitational Championship af Belmont Hills is still going strong.

And although Bermuda Open multiple winner and two-time defending champion Tim Conley refused to play in the Open, he will return to Bermuda at the end of the month to defend his Invitational title at what he calls "the hardest, shortest golf course I've played all over the world".

The main reason why the Bermuda Open suffered such a dramatic decline this year was the lack of prize money ¿ down from $50,000 in 2007 to $25,000 this year.

Meanwhile the Gosling's Invitational still offers a $50,000 purse with $9,000 to the winner.

Chris Marshall who is the Director of Golf of the To-A-Tee company which runs the Gosling's Invitational, said this week: "The field is looking good. We have over 70 golfers right now, 30 pros and 43 amateurs and we are still accepting entries."

And Marshall was happy that Conley is returning to defend his title. "We have Tim coming back as well as other pros ¿ people like Kirk Hanefeld, Dennis Hendershot, Craig Marseilles, Delroy Cambridge and Joe Carr is also coming."

American Hanefeld was fourth last year while Canadians Hendershot and Marseilles are also playing in this week's Bermuda Open as is Cambridge.

Unfortunately top Bermuda pros Michael Sims and Eric West will not be playing as they have tournaments overseas.

The pro/am will be on Sunday November 30 while the tournament will be from December 1-4 with no cut.

Also the defending amateur champion Daniel Augustus who finished 13th last year will be returning. "He is a wonderful young Bermudian player," said Marshall adding, "he has a lot of talent and recently represented Bermuda in Australia at the World Amateurs."

To-A-Tee is part of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators and the CEO Alex Madeiros is currently in Spain at a meeting of fellow IAGTO members.

Besides running Riddells Bay and Ocean View, Marshall said: "We are also a management company and run tournaments like the Gosling's Invitational and also the Goodwill tournament which will be played at Riddells Bay, Mid Ocean, Tucker's Point and Belmont Hills the week after the Gosling's Invitational."

And Marshall said he was pleasantly surprised at the entry list for the annual Goodwill tournament which brings teams in from the US and Canada.

"We have 85 teams right now for the Goodwill and that is pretty good considering that about a month and a half ago we only had about 30 teams. With the current economic climate we were a bit worried but then things turned around. People seemed to have put that aside and decided to come down which was nice to see."

Of the Gosling's Invitational at Belmont, Marshall said: "The course is not long but it always tests the players because the greens are so tough."