MICHAEL Sims left Bermuda this week after a welcome Christmas break at home and will play his first event on the Nationwide Tour at the end of this month in Panama. And then it is on to tournaments in Australia and then New Zealand before the Nationwide heads to its permanent home in the United States.But before flying to Panama, Sims has to make two stops — the first on the US west coast to see his equipment sponsors Titleist and then back to the east coast to Georgia to see his coach and agent.

Sims, who gave a demonstration of his skills over the holidays at home club Belmont Hills and also gave a talk to Bermuda’s junior golfers, said: “I had a great Christmas. It was nice to relax a bit.”

Before returning to Bermuda Sims endured a gruelling six straight rounds of the PGA Qualifying School in La Quinta, California — something he has done every year since turning pro six years ago. But this was the first time he made it into the final round and came out with his Nationwide Tour card.

On Monday Sims will be in California with representatives from Titleist who have sponsored him since he turned pro.

“I need to check out some equipment and try and get fitted with some new irons — basically see what they have,” he said.

Sims said he changes and renews his equipment regularly. “But when something is working you tend to stay with it. For instance I have had my three wood in the bag for four or five years. I change my wedges about twice a year and change the irons when the grooves start wearing out. But when you are happy with a club you tend to stay with it.”

Away from the pressure of competing all year round, Sims enjoyed giving out tips to Bermuda’s youngsters and also hosting a clinic at Belmont Hills last weekend.

Of talking and giving tips to juniors he said: “I have a lot of fun talking to them. I came up in junior golf and I am trying to give back a little.”

Sims attended the prizegiving at the end of the AON Fecchio Cup at Port Royal last week and talked to the juniors and then earlier this week he went out and played a <$z10>round with the winner, Mark Phillips. Sims said: “Mark is a good sized kid — he has a lot of talent. Right now he is away in golf school and he has all the talent in the world. He just needs to continue to stay with it. The more Bermuda can get youngsters like that coming through then the better it will be for our golf.”And he also enjoyed giving the clinic at Belmont Hills.

“I think that went over pretty well. I love doing that stuff. A lot of people don’t get the chance to chat to me that much and it is great for me to share some things with them.

“(Belmont Hills owner) Kevin (Petty) and Brian (Morris, head pro) and all the pros from Belmont were there as were some people from XL (his sponsors) and some juniors and others. We had some good laughs. It is a lot of fun to do and I will look forward to do them in the future. We had a decent-size turnout and hopefully the next one will be a even better. We did some fun stuff and there was a lot of good banter back and forth — we are like a family here at Belmont Hills.”

Sims also paid tribute to friend and head pro at Belmont, Brian Morris, who recently raised over $60,000 to help pay for the medical expenses of his cousin Lori Mello who is undergoing treatments for Diffused Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Morris recently played over 180 holes of golf over a 24-hour “golf-a-thon” at Belmont and Sims said: “I am really proud of Brian for doing that. It could not have been easy — mentally or physically. It was quite an accomplishment.”

The Movistar Panama Championship at the Panama Golf Club kicks off the Nationwide Tour and will be played from January 26-29.