The Bermuda 3s World Team Championship presented by Goslings is here to stay.

Despite a lower than anticipated field, organisers have described the inaugural event, which finished at Turtle Hill Golf Course yesterday, as a success and have already begun sowing the seeds for next year’s tournament.

“We could not have asked for a better start to this new world pro-am,” said Joe Steranka, the tournament’s co-founder and former PGA of America chief executive.

“From Mid Ocean, Port Royal, Turtle Hill and the Fairmont Southampton all being amazing hosts, to the quality of play from our participants, it has truly been a world-class event.”

The four-day tournament was also held at the Mid Ocean Club and Port Royal Golf Course.

Bermuda has earned a reputation over the years for hosting major tournaments featuring some of the world’s elite players. Mid Ocean Club hosted the Gillette Tour Challenge Championship in the late Nineties as well as the PGA Grand Slam of Golf along with Port Royal.

Turtle Hill is home to the annual Grey Goose World Par 3 Championship, which continues to go from strength to strength.

“This amazing country has long been an international meeting place for sports,” said Ken Kennerly, the Bermuda 3s co-founder and Honda Classic executive director.

Local team Turtle Hill GC, led by professional Dwayne Trott, won the inaugural team Pro Am event, by one shot while Florida’s Medalist Golf Club won the low gross division.

Simon Lilly, from Northamptonshire, England, won the professional division by a convincing 12 shot margin, firing a new course record of seven-under-par 47 during the penultimate round at Turtle Hill along the way.

“To have champions in the professional, team gross and team net divisions from three different countries is what we dreamt of when we created this event,” Kennerly added.

The Bermuda 3s World Team Championship featured professional players from the United States, Britain and Ireland, Estonia and Bermuda who competed individually for $52,000 in prize earnings.

Lilly pocketed the $11,000 winner’s purse while local professionals Daniel Augustus earned $5,000 for finishing tied for fourth and Dwayne Pearman $3,250 after finishing tied for seventh. After the main event organisers staged a hole ‘n one challenge at No 10 involving eight qualifiers, including local amateur Malcolm Gosling, for additional prize money which went unclaimed.