A bullish Michael Sims is refusing to entertain any negative thoughts after enduring a difficult start to his first year on the Nationwide Tour.

The Bermuda number one has missed seven out of nine cuts so far in around four months of competition — pocketing a mere $2, 807 in prize money.

But asked yesterday whether he was running low on confidence, Sims insisted his was heading in the right direction.

He admitted, however, that his putting would have to improve if he was going to be more competitive at the Nationwide Tour level and beyond.

“There seems to be a lot of people around concentrating on the negative, but there are far too many good things going on with my game right now for me to start worrying about that,” he said after shooting a two-under 70 in the first round of US Open qualifying last Tuesday in Rhode Island progress through to the next stage.

“Overall I’m very excited about the way I’m hitting the ball and really it’s just a question of being patient because I know eventually things are going to come right.

“If there are two areas that need improvement, firstly my birdie ratio on par fives is not quite what it should be — I need a few more birdies on the par fives for sure — and secondly I’ve got to start making a few more putts.

“If I can make a couple more birdies per round and get up and down once or twice I really am in business.

“You can never be a good enough putter as far as I’m concerned and if you can putt well in the big tournaments it makes up for a lot of areas where you might be having problems.

“I had a putting lesson earlier today and for me the problem is my speed. If I hit ten putts, almost all of them are different speeds which is not what should be happening. Some go long, some are coming up short and the odd one is going in.

“I’m very much a feel putter and if I can be a little more consistent with my speed then that’s when things are going to start coming together.

“Overall though I’m loving it (playing on the Nationwide Tour) — how can I not? It’s fantastic being out here playing and like a buddy of mine said to me the other day, I’ve just got to be patient. I’m doing all the right things. I know I’m in a results-orientated business, but the way I look at it is I’m following a process.

“Last May I started working on some mechanical adjustments to my swing and now that I’m comfortable with those it’s about getting my putting to where it needs to be. Once that happens, I believe the results will start come.”

Throughout his time on the Tour, Sims has been accompanied by close friend Tommy Giles, a former team-mate on the University of Rhode Island’s golf team who has agreed to caddy for him for the year.

Giles first carried the bag for Sims at Q-School in December when he finally earned his Tour card, and the relationship has continued to blossom ever since.

“It makes such a difference having one of my best buddies with me all the time now, both on and off the golf course,” Sims said.

“He brings a lot to the table. On the course he’s very calm, very precise and knows my game very well. He’s a great friend and it’s fantastic to have somebody like him around. We spend a huge amount of time together on the road and we share the driving. “Before this year I travelled a lot by myself and I’d turn up to a lot of tournaments pretty tired after spending hours and hours in the car.

“Just the other day we got a late call telling us to get to Pensacola for a Pro-Am which was seven hours away by car from where we were. And as soon as we finished there we drove to the next place which was also around seven hours away.

“That was 14 hours driving in 24 hours and normally I would have had to do it all by myself.

“I’d love to have him as my caddy for the rest of my career, but obviously I’m going to have to start doing a little better in order to fund that!”

One the disadvantages Sims and many of the other Nationwide Tour rookies face is a lack of familiarity with the courses they’re playing on.

Week after week he travels to an alien course where the conditions can often be dramatically different from the last venue.

But given the tight schedule, he rarely gets to play more than one practice round per tournament.

Sims admitted he has found this one of the hardest challenges to adjust to.

“There are lots of other new players in my position as well, but if you look at the results of most of the rookies you’ll see that with one or two exceptions they’ve done pretty much the same as me,” he said.

“It makes a huge difference turning up to a course you know. You know the lines of the tee, you know the contours of the greens, so even the guys who have been on Tour for only a year have a big advantage over me.

“Sometimes my first round at a tournament is only the second round I’ve ever had on the course. Occasionally I get in two practice rounds but more often than not it’s just one.

“It’s not easy but unfortunately it’s reality so I have to deal with it.

“There’s still a lot more tournaments to go and I’m excited about what I might be able to do later in the year once all the parts of my game have come together.”

Sims will tee it up again on the Nationwide Tour this week at the $650,000 BMW Charity Pro-Am Classic at The Cliffs Country Club in South Carolina.

Sims staying resolutely upbeat