Bermuda's top golfers Dwayne Pearman and Michael Sims will be tested early in the Nations Cup with half of the competition to be played today.

The pair head to El Tigre Golf Club in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, this morning facing 36 holes of action after yesterday's first round was delayed because of torrential rainfall dumped on the area by successive tropical storms in recent days.

Golfers from about 20 countries will start with four-ball competition followed by alternate shot foursomes this afternoon as they vie to finish among the top two and qualify for next month's World Cup.

The final two rounds of the event will be played tomorrow (four-ball) and Saturday (alternate shot) as planned.

"They needed today (yesterday) to prepare the course after all the rain that took place over the weekend," noted Bermuda's non-playing captain Kim Swan, speaking to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

This setback, he added, had a pro and con as it allowed participants an extra day's practice but with the prospect of doubling up today firmly on their minds. However, he remained confident that the Pearman-Sims unit would fare well.

"I feel very good . We have a very competitively-experienced team who know the task at hand. From that regard, they won't be put off by the challenge. They are champing at the bit to get out there.

"The delay shouldn't interfere with our chances. I am cautiously optimistic and looking forward for the event to get underway tomorrow," said Swan who has been impressed with what he has witnessed from his charges so far.

He acknowledged the character of the course would be affected by the recent weather and would likely give competitors something else to scratch their heads about.

"Certainly it makes the course play very long. There's a minimum amount of roll. The balls aren't rolling and the course is 7,200 yards. What that means is that, with wet conditions, the course will play 7,500 yards.

"It will add five to ten percent of distance on to the course which will make it exceedingly long."

Added to everything, Swan pointed out that daylight does not break in Mexico until around 8 a.m. which means that play would not be able to start today until about 8.30 a.m., he predicted. This, he said, augured for a late evening on the greens.