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A team of Bermuda's top golfers will compete against the next generation of pro players in South Africa next month.

Bermuda is sending a three-man, three-woman team to play in the World Amateur Championships in South Africa.

Bermuda stroke-play champion Dr. Robert Vallis, William Haddrell and Nick Mansell make up the men's team with Island Games medallist Ebonie Burgess, Laura Robinson and Katyna Rabain forming the women's team.

All six were selected on the basis of their performances at the stroke-play championship, with Mansell, who finished fourth in that competition, a late addition after David Smith pulled out.

The tournament, featuring a total of 126 teams from all over the world, will be held at the De Zalze and Stellenbosch golf clubs near Cape Town between October 18 and 29.

The biennial tournament was last held in Puerto Rico in 2004, with Sweden wining the women's event and U.S. taking the mens.

Rick Bartlett, secretary of the Bermuda Golf Association, said the U.S. team was always very strong.

"They're going to come up against the top amateurs in the world. I don't think we expect to win too many prizes but we expect it to be a good experience."

He said golfers like Ryan Moore, who finished ninth in the U.S. PGA - one of golf's four majors - last month, had been on the American team last time around.

Mansell, who will head to Miami to work on his game in the weeks before the tournament, said it the tournament was the pinnacle of team golf for Bermuda's players.

The Port Royal course superintendent, who has played in the tournament twice before in Germany and Malaysia, said the standard varied massively.

"You get teams like Iran who have only a few players to choose from, But you get countries like the U.S., where most of the players end up on the pro circuit.

"It's a very broad spectrum."

He said team golf was a very different mental game.

"You can't post too many high scores because you're letting your team down and your country down."[[In-content Ad]]

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