Dwayne Pearman will make his first competitive appearance as Port Royal's head professional on Monday when the Fritz Reiter Memorial Match Play Championships begin at Riddell'sBay.

The tournament's defending champion Pearman will be the top seed for the competition where 16 of the Island's professionals will go head-to-head over four days of golf.

And Pearman will use the championships as an ideal way to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers in Venezuela later this month. However, his team-mate for that tournament, Scott Roy, will not play next week as he is currently off the Island.

Among the other pros taking part are new Riddell's Bay pro Brian Morris, who is returning after 18 months away from the game, and former winner Chris Smith, as well as the likes of Paul Adams from Tucker's Point, and Kevin Benevides from Mid Ocean Club.

Monday's first round begins at 11 a.m. and will be used as a qualifying event to determine the rest of the seedings for the week's play. Match Play will begin on Tuesday, with the finals on Thursday.

Meanwhile, preparations are well underway for two of Bermuda Golf Association's upcoming events, this month's Mixed Foursomes and the Bermuda Fourball which will take place at Port Royal in November.

The foursomes, which will take place at Tucker's Point, will be played over two days on September 26-27 with the first round an 18-hole better ball, and the second round played under the Pinehurst format.

"It's not one of those tournament where you can rely on just one person to carry the team," said BGA executive Jeanne Atherden. "Pinehurst means you have to co-ordinate and play to your strengths, and this year we want more couples to come out and take part."

The fourball will be its usual format, with men playing over 72 holes and women over 54, and the BGA are hoping to attract golfers from home and abroad to take part.

"All of our tournaments are open to everyone," said Atherden. "Years ago you had people that would travel to Bermuda for golf and we are trying to get people to go back to that type of mindset. We are trying to get it back to the time when people would come in groups, we'e had enquiries, and we've sent invitations out to people, so hopefully they will come."

n Michael Sims will almost certainly have his weekend off after a mixed second round at the Utah Championships at the Willow Creek Country Club yesterday.

A level par 71 left the Bermudian golfer at even for the Nationwide Tour event, two shots off the projected cut line. With Utah four hours behind Bermuda, Sims' fate was still hanging in the balance last night.

Once again inconsistency was the key to the golfer's downfall, despite carding his second eagles in two days – both at the par-five first – Sims also had a double-bogey and three bogeys to go alongside three birdies.

Currently 67th on the tour money-list, Sims needs to make it into the top 50 to retain his tour card, and with events running out can ill-afford to miss more cuts.