Scotland today in a bid to retain the title he won last year in Ireland.

But up until last week Talbot was unsure whether he would even be able to attend with a major sponsorship deal falling through. Luckily for him, the fund-raising efforts of Julie Kitson and Madeline Joell bore fruits in the form of $3,000, enough for him to make the trip.

Talbot said that he was pleased with his game at this point and expressed confidence in his chances of repeating.

"It's my fourth time in the tournament and I feel I have a good chance of winning this year,'' said Talbot, who was runner-up in 1989. "I've worked very hard with my putting and chipping this year...there's been a little problem with driving the ball off the tee, but nothing to worry about.'' However, the road to the championship promises to be an arduous one with the possible inclusion of eight-time winner Andy Robinson and last year's runner-up Michael O'Grady of Ireland.

Another determining factor will be the weather, which proved very uncompromising last year. At times it got to the point where balls were being blown off the greens by heavy winds.

"The weather will dictate the scores,'' said Talbot referring to the way the wind wreaked havoc the previous year. "Hopefully the inland course won't be as windy as last year.'' Talbot forsees no real difficulty in adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings and seems to relish the challenge of conquering new territory.

Said Talbot: "I can adapt to Scottish and European courses very easily. I just manage my game to the course.'' "There's no pressure on me...the only pressure was raising the money to go.'' As the defending champion, Talbot will enter as the top seed, but will still have to make it through two days of qualifying before going on to the match play, which has competitors playing four matches in two days to determine the semifinalists.

The past three months have seen Talbot spending a lot of time in on the course honing his craft and also teaching others. He said that he was regularly shooting in the mid-70s and was impressed with how his short game has come around.

He was somewhat disappointed at the unwillingness of the Bermuda Golf Association to allow him to enter tournaments because of his pro status, even though he does not possess a card.