Daniel Augustus will venture into unknown territory when he makes his Gosling’s Moongate Tour debut at Turtle Hill Golf Club today.

The professional is back on island from competing on various tours in the United States, including the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.

Augustus is feeling good about his game heading into the 36-hole event and excited to put his skills to the test competing in the strongest field ever in Gosling’s Moongate Tour event.

Fellow professionals Dwayne Pearman, Camiko Smith, Scott Roy, Nick Jones and Chris Smith, as well as top amateurs Oliver Betschart, Kenny Leseur and Damian Palanyandi will all be involved.

“It’s just great to see competitive golf taking place in Bermuda at this level, so I am just looking forward to competing,” Augustus told The Royal Gazette. “It’s a strong field and I am looking forward to playing with everyone.

“Turtle Hill is a different golf course. I believe it gives more players an opportunity to play well, so it’s going to be about who makes the most putts as it is in most tournaments.”

Augustus is fresh off victory in last week’s Bermuda Professional Golfers Association Match Play Championship but has tapered his expectations heading into his next event.

“It’s another tournament and I am looking to just do as good as I possibly can and don’t really have any expectations,” he said.

Making their first Gosling’s Moongate Tour appearance of the year is Camiko Smith, who has been highly active lately playing overseas on the Clutch Pro Tour in the Middle East and most recently in a US Open local qualifier in Connecticut.

Like Augustus, Smith is also looking forward to competing among a formidable field.

“It feels really good to be teeing it up this Saturday in the 36-hole Moongate Tour event at Turtle Hill,” he said. “It’s a really good local field of Bermuda’s top amateur and pro golfers.

“The Moongate Tour brings a great level of competition, and I’m excited to get out there and test my game and put together a strong performance.”

Although he only managed to make the cut once in three appearances on the Clutch Pro Tour to date and fell short in his bid to qualify for next month’s US Open, the 39-year-old feels good about his game.

“Coming off the US Open qualifier there’s always room for improvement, but overall I’m confident in where things stand heading into this first event on the Moongate Tour,” Smith said.

“It’s really going to be about trusting the process and staying mentally sharp throughout the round.”

Double points to count towards the overall championship will be up for grabs at Turtle Hill, while the top sixteen players on the Order of Merit following today’s tournament will qualify for the inaugural Founder’s Cup Match Play Championship.

The evergreen Pearman won the opening round of this year’s Gosling’s Moongate Tour Championship to get his Order of Merit title defence off to the perfect start.

Chris Smith and last year’s Gosling’s Moongate Tour Championship winner Betschart finished joint winners in the second round of this year’s championship, with the former savouring a maiden tour victory.

Leseur (1,400) leads this year’s Order of Merit, followed by Chris Smith (1,350) in second and Pearman (1,250) in third.