---

By the time you are reading this article, three young Bermudians will know their fate with regard to the first step of a very challenging assignment that they have set for themselves.

The assignment is the U.S. Open, the toughest of all golf tournaments in the entire golfing universe. The qualifying process itself is enough to scare most people away, not only because there are several stages to it, but also because the U.S. Open attracts only the very best that play this crazy game.

Frankly, the odds of a player who starts at the beginning of the process, actually qualifying for the U.S. Open is, to use a couple of modern day actuarial terms, slim to none. The task is nothing short of mammoth.

In order to become one of the final 156 who will start a U.S. Open, a non-exempt player must be successful at several pre-qualifying events, each one attracting an ever-increasing percentage of really, really good players.

The three young Bermudians setting out on this adventure are Daniel Augustus, Jarryd Dillas and Camiko Smith. All three are in their early 20's and certainly now is the time for them to test the waters to see how deep their abilities run.

The three of them are amongst the best Bermuda has to offer the golfing world and I am curious to learn how they fare at this first hurdle. Whatever the outcome, they are to be congratulated for having the gumption to give it a go. After all, you never know until you try.

Sadly, Bermuda appears devoid of golfers willing to give it a try.

The Bermuda Seniors Amateur Championship, which is being contested this week, has only managed to attract 24 men and nine women players, hardly field sizes to write home about. National tournament fields in Bermuda have been running at low levels for several years now and, at these levels, it seems hardly worth holding an event.

Seniors

The contradiction is quite ironic.The Bermuda Seniors Amateur Championship, a local national event that is played right in our backyard, struggles to attract players whereas the toughest event in the world sees three young players from Bermuda get up off their chairs to see how they can do. It is not just the Bermuda Seniors that struggles to generate interest as entries in most national golf tournaments bumps along the bottom of the entry curve.

Interest in competing in national tournaments in Bermuda is at a serious low ebb and, without players, especially without the better players, the question becomes one of why bother putting them on. It takes a lot of work to put on a tournament with much sacrifice from several quarters.

Maybe the upcoming Bermuda Amateur Stroke Play Championship, which will be played at Port Royal June 18-21 will attract a better size field. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see who has the gumption to enter what is Bermuda's most important stroke play event.[[In-content Ad]]

---