An agonising three shots proved the gaping difference between Michael Sims ascending into golf?s upper tier and remaining a fledgling pro for another year.

Bermuda?s top golfer failed in his bid for a spot in the third and decisive stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School (Q-School) on Saturday in the USA.

Closing with a final round, one-over 73 at Hombre City Golf Club in Panama City, Florida, he fell short of the required mark ? one-under 287 ? to make it into the low 20 finishers and ties who advanced to next month?s Q-School showdown to determine who gets what playing rights on the lucrative PGA and Nationwide Tours.

Sims, who carded two-over 290 for the tournament, would have been assured of some sort of rights once he had advanced past Q-School?s second phase. It?s the third occasion in four attempts that he has frustratingly faltered at this crucial juncture in the annual qualifier.

The 25-year-old?s quest for greater professional stature was comprehensively undone on the back nine of his penultimate round on Friday when ? after being three-under through 11 holes ? he carded four double bogeys coming into the clubhouse, including three in succession on holes 12, 13 and 14 .

Suddenly, he had plummeted from joint eighth place with three-under 141 after two rounds to 31st with one-over 217 after 54 holes and it proved too much of a disaster from which to recover.

?I?m disappointed obviously but there?s nothing I can do about it,? said Sims yesterday, accepting his fate candidly.

?What can I say. I was that close. I was right there. All I had to shoot was 70 in the last round and I would have been in. It?s just one of those things.

?It?s more frustrating that I didn?t get through because I am playing very well right now. I should have been in the top 20.

?You?re so close you can grab it but you don?t have it. That?s just the cold reality of this game. I was in it up until the last three holes yesterday. I still had a chance.?

Reflecting on Friday?s bombshell of four-over 76 for the round, he disclosed that he never got ruffled and figured ?I would snap out of it?.

?At the end, it was just shocking. Thinking about it, I couldn?t tell you when I have ever done that before.

?I was playing well and then I hit a ball out of bounds and it started from there. I hit the ball out of bounds again off the next tee and the next ball I got a little unlucky with a bad kick behind a tree and suddenly I had three doubles (bogeys),? recalled Sims, adding that it was the fourth double bogey that truly scuppered his ambitions.

?I birdied 17 and then I did it again on the 18th (fourth double bogey). That was the one that really tossed me because otherwise I would have walked away from having three really bad holes with only a two-over 74 and I would have been right on the number (for the low 20) as opposed to being two shots out of the number.?

Still, he did not think he had left himself too much to do on Saturday.

?No, not at all. Coming back from that position was definitely possible. I had to have an extremely good round but yesterday (Saturday) I was extremely flat. I made two bogeys and a birdie. My birdie didn?t come until the 17th hole. I had a hard time,? he admitted without excuse.

Sims shrugged off any idea that he might have been nervous, knowing so much was riding on those last 18 holes.

?I was actually very excited. That might sound silly considering my third round but I knew it wasn?t over. I still had a round to play, to make up for it.

?You?re not going to play every hole well but you have to minimise your mistakes and unfortunately, if you look at the outcome, my mistakes cost me.?

However, assessing his three years on the pro circuit, the Bermudian confidently declared it?s a question of ?when? not ?if? he reaches golf?s superstar ranks.

?I?ve definitely improved. I am a much better player than I was three years ago and I will continue to get better. It?s a matter of time before I am playing on the PGA Tour,? he said, comparing his first Q-School exit in 2001 to this one.

?This (Hombre City) is a venue I came to three years ago for the second stage of Q-School. The decisions I made three years ago were different from the ones I made this time. It was like two totally different players.

?I definitely know what I am doing out there better. My decisions are clearer and I?m not as anxious and I don?t stray away from my game plan.

?I?m putting much better. My short game was really good. Everything is that much better. It?s just a matter of time.?

Sims is now trying to decide on his immediate future but his most likely option is to compete on the South American Tour, starting later this month in Mexico, Panama and Peru.