American professional golfer Joe Carr will achieve what is believed to be an historic milestone at the 68th Bermuda Goodwill Tournament this week.

The head professional of Bedrock Golf Club, the sole overseas team competing this year, is making his 50th consecutive appearance in world golf’s oldest and longestrunning Pro-Am.

A special ceremony paying homage to the remarkable feat will be held after the final round at Mid Ocean Club on Friday.

“No one ever has played in 50 consecutive golfing events,” Bob Corrao, the tournament director, told The Royal Gazette. “It’s impossible to play in the same tournament 50 years.

“No pro can play at Augusta for 50 years because you couldn’t compete. If you started playing at 25, you couldn’t compete at Augusta at 75.

“No one has done this before, so it’s amazing and is also a first.”

The 72-hole, best-ball event has been scaled back considerably as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and will also feature three local teams — two from Mid Ocean Club and one from Port Royal Golf Club, which is co-hosting the tournament.

“I was going to have 70 teams,” Corrao said. “but everybody started calling me saying they just can’t get there.

“Just think of having 300 people come in and try and go through the [Covid-19] protocols. It would be impossible.

“Two people are positive throws the whole thing and everybody goes to quarantine. I just couldn’t do it.”

The tournament was due to commence yesterday but was postponed because of the inclement weather.

The opening round will now take place today at Port Royal, starting from 10.30am.

Mid Ocean will host the second round tomorrow before the event moves back to Port Royal on Thursday.

Silvermine Country Club led from wire to wire to clinch the title last year.

The winners finished with a three-round accumulative net score of 179. Innis Arden Golf Club finished second on 185 and Trump National Briarcliff third with 187.

Guiding Silvermine to what proved to be a comfortable victory in the end was Peter Ballo, who won the individual professional Stableford title with 68 points.

Brian Gaffney, representing Essex Fells Country Club, finished second with 54 points and Chris Marinaro, of Trump National Briarcliff, third with 52 points.

There were no local players or teams that competed in last year's event that featured 27 teams from North America and Europe.

Introduced in 1953, the Goodwill Tournament has become a staple of the Bermuda golf calendar, attracting overseas amateurs and professionals to the island annually.