will be inked in before the end of this month to complete the ten-strong field for October's Merrill Lynch Shoot-out championship being hosted by Mid Ocean Club for the third successive year.

Defending champion Curtis Strange has promised to return as has Payne Stewart who played at Mid Ocean for the first time last year and Craig Stadler, whose popularity in Bermuda has earned him a sponsors' exemption for the third year in a row.

Paul Azinger, whose courageous and much-publicised recovery from cancer has made him a crowd favourite on the PGA Tour, has also accepted an invitation and will make his Bermuda debut.

That star-studded quartet will be joined by Scott Hoch, Woody Austin and Jim Furyk who have earned their championship tickets by taking the top three slots in the season-long Shoot-out qualifying series.

That series actually winds up prior to the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, this week, but neither Hoch, Austin nor Furyk can be bumped out of a top three placing.

Both Hoch and Austin arrived in Bermuda via the same route last year, and Hoch, like Stadler, will be playing in the Shoot-out final for the third straight year.

As for the remaining three places, Merrill Lynch are awaiting confirmation from a short-list of five -- 1994 Shoot-out champion Corey Pavin, current British Open champion Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson and Mark O'Meara, both of whom played in Bermuda last year, and Davis Love, who was here in 1994.

Mickelson, O'Meara and Lehman are currently second, third and fourth respectively on the PGA Tour money winners' list, each with more than $1,444,000 in earnings this year.

Another player approached, veteran Tom Watson, declined an invitation because of a prior commitment.

The $600,000 tournament, to be televised again by American network ABC, takes place at Mid Ocean on Tuesday, October 15, possibly for the last time.

Merrill Lynch's ten-year sponsorship contract with the Shoot-out expires this year and even if they do continue their association with the event, there's no guarantee the final will be played in Bermuda again.

Before bringing the event to the Island for the first time in 1994, Merrill Lynch had taken the championship to various courses across the US for the previous seven years.

However, Bermuda, and Mid Ocean in particular, proved popular with the players who considered the Island an ideal end-of-season retreat where they could combine the tournament with a vacation. The Shoot-out will be preceded, as usual, by a pro-am on October 14.

NAME GAME -- Paul Azinger (above) and Craig Stadler (right) are the latest PGA Tour stars to confirm they will be coming to Bermuda for the ten-man Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out in October.