BERMUDA has long recognised the talents of American veteran Clark MacKenzie.

Ask any of the regulars who compete in the Island's annual Senior Amateur Championships, and they'll tell you that if MacKenzie's in the field, the deal is as good as done.

Over the past seven years, the 61-year-old Baltimore, Maryland resident has lifted the championship five times.

Last month at Riddell's Bay, he did so by a staggering 10 shots. His final round was a one-under-par 69 for a winning 54-hole total of 218.

But then winning's nothing new to a man who's played the game all of his life and whose father was a Walker Cup team-mate of the late, great Bobby Jones.

Now his efforts have been recognised in his own country where last week MacKenzie was elected the 32nd captain of the US International Seniors Golf Team.

Next month he'll lead that team out against Canada and next year against both Canada and Great Britain.

The captaincy is considered one of the greatest honours in American senior golf.

The US Seniors Association is almost 100 years old - it was founded in 1905 - and now boasts over 1300 members from 44 states, all 55 years-old or over.

International competition runs in the MacKenzie family.

His father, Roland, played on US Walker Cup teams in 1926, 1928 and 1930, on more than one occasion with the legendary Jones.

MacKenzie's grandfather, W.C.Fownes jr, led US teams against Canada (1919 and and 1920), and England (1921) and was captain of the first US Walker Cup team in 1922 in matches played at The National Links on Long Island.

Hardly surprisingly, Clark MacKenzie has been wielding a golf club for just about as long as he can remember, most of the time to good effect.

Besides his victories in Bermuda, he's also finished runner-up on two occasions in the Scottish Senior Amateur Championship and has finishes of fourth, fifth and 11th in the English, Irish and Canadian Senior Championships respectively.

In the 1996 USGA Senior Amateur, he was Regional Qualifier (co-medallist) and went on to make the quarter-finals.

In Devonshire Cup matches against Canada, which he will captain next month, his record is impressive, having won 15 and a half points from a possible 18 in previous contests.

This year's Devonshire Cup match will comprise teams of 20 players who will clash at the Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from July 7 to 11.

And the pressure will be on MacKenzie to maintain his team's enviable record.

The last time the two countries met, the USGA side came away with a convincing 721/2 to 471/2 point victory.

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BERMUDA Golf Association are expected to soon confirm the island's three-man team to compete for the Eisenhower Trophy at the World Amateur Team Championships in Malaysia later this year.

Robert Vallis, winner of the recent Amateur Strokeplay Championships at Port Royal, along with Jarryd Dillas, Tim Carr and Blake Marshall are the key candidates, having led a group of 12 top players from the Order of Merit who were eligible to play off during the Strokeplay. Dillas was runner-up to Vallis among that group while Carr and Marshall tied for third over the 72 holes.

However, it's understood at least a couple of the above names might not be available for the October trip to Kuala Lumpur, which could open the door to others who competed in the Order of Merit play-off.

Another complication is that BGA regulations allow for only one non-Bermudian to be in the team.

That could mean that if Tim Carr accepts his invitation, another ex-patriate, his namesake Gary Carr, who represented Bermuda at the Simon Bolivar tournament in Venezuela last year will miss out.

An announcement of the final team make-up is expected after the next executive meeting.