Frustrated by his placing in last week's Q-School tournament in Texas, Bermuda's Michael Sims is nevertheless looking ahead to the new year with optimism.

Sims, who finished 43rd, does not hide his disappointment at events a week ago when he expected to qualify by placing in the top 20. However, he is anxious to put that behind him and instead turn his attentions to the challenges that lie ahead.

The 23-year-old Bermudian is currently weighing up his many options in Florida where he resides, options which include participating in the South American tour which begins in the new year and attempting to qualifying for the Canadian tour in February.

"All I know at the moment is that I intend to stay in the Florida area and play as many practice rounds as possible in an attempt to sharpen up my game for whatever decision that I eventually make,'' said Sims.

"I am still very disappointed over my last performance. I was expecting to get through. I hit the ball good and I did a lot of other good things and I expected to finish much higher than I actually did.''

Going into the final round at the Deerwood Club Sims was 38th with scores of 75, 72, 71 on the par 72 course, but he could do no better than finish with a two over par 74 in the final round which prevented him from any sort of gain in a field of 77.

Sims has now had several days of rest and this weekend he intends to get back on the course and play several rounds with players in the area.

"I was really tired after last week's tournament," he said. "But thankfully it doesn't take long for me to recover.

"One thing I do find out playing out there for nearly three years though is that it can be fairly emotionally draining, especially when you contend in a tournament and lose out with a so-so round at the end.''

Sims appears to be leaning towards South America, a decision that would see him jet out to the Bahamas and then probably on to places like Mexico and Argentina.

"I think the tour will run from January for about six to seven months, but I will have to look into it," he said.

"If not I will just have to look to qualify for the Canadian Tour or perhaps stay where I am and continue to play in the Monday qualifying tournaments for the PGA and Buy.com tournaments."

One thing for sure is that while results vary for the Bermudian, he will continue to work hard at reaching his goal away from local soil.