this year's Gillette Tour Challenge Championship at Mid Ocean Club.

American John Daly and England's Laura Davies, generally regarded as the longest hitters on their respective tours, will join what is shaping into another star-studded field for the September 29 classic.

Defending champions Nick Price, Jim Colbert and Kelly Robbins who teamed up to win the inaugural $1.8 million tournament last October will be back as will this year's US Open champion Lee Janzen, runaway money leader on the Senior Tour Hale Irwin, Payne Stewart and Michelle McGann.

Senior legend Lee Trevino, Swedish star Annika Sorenstam and Fred Couples are also pencilled in while organisers are confident that 21-year-old Korean sensation Se Ri Pak, who has won two majors on the ladies' circuit this year, will make her first trip to the Island.

While the final field won't be confirmed until early next month, after the Gillette qualifying series -- which provides two players from each of the PGA and Senior PGA Tours and three from the LPGA Tour -- is complete, most of the sponsors' exemptions are now lined up.

However, there will be no Tiger Woods nor Mark O'Meara, winner of two majors this year. Both have told Gillette they have other commitments.

But the presence of Daly and Davies, neither of whom have previously played on the Island, should ensure another bumper crowd for the one-day tournament which features teams -- a player from each tour -- competing over 18 holes on a best-ball format.

Daly, a recovering alcoholic who's made the headlines as much for his tantrums off-course as for his prodigious length off the tee, remains one of pro golf's biggest draws.

And Davies, the best female player ever to come out of England, likewise continues to prove one of the LPGA's most popular players.

Mid Ocean Club's Marty Svensen, one of the local coordinators, said yesterday that besides Daly and Davies, many of those who played for the first time last year were eager to return.

"We should know the full field in about two or three weeks' time, but at the moment it's looking very good, perhaps even better than last year,'' said Svensen, who confirmed that tournament admission this year would be free, compared to the $25 charged a year ago.

ABC-TV will again televise the event and Gillette are again putting up a $25,000 prize, half of which will go to charity, for a ten-foot putt on Mid Ocean's 18th green. Anybody buying a Gillette product in a local store between September 21-24 will be eligible for the draw which will determine who takes that putt.

Svensen noted that some 250 marshalls, not just from Mid Ocean but recruited also from the memberships at Ocean View and Port Royal, would be on hand on tournament day.

LONG JOHN -- PGA Tour favourite John Daly, one of golf's longest hitters, will tee it up at Mid Ocean Club next month.