The Nike Golf PGA Team Championship of Canada will return to Bermuda for a second year of competition in October.

Mid Ocean Golf Club will again host the tournament of 104 visiting golfers, who will qualify in events across Canada this summer.

The championship forms part of a packed winter of golf for Bermuda, with the Hackers Cup, Gosling’s Invitational, Bermuda Open and Goodwill tournament all scheduled to take place during what that Bermuda Tourism Authority called a “growth year for golf on the island.”

Before the Nike Golf event in October there will be a World Pro Sports Championship, an event which has grown out of the partnership between the BTA and the organisers of the Bermuda Golf Classic, NFL Invitational.

“Our sales and marketing team is advancing Bermuda as a golf tourism destination,” Bill Hanbury, the BTA chief executive officer, said. “Golf visitors are important because they have a positive impact across the Island’s tourism economy, far beyond just golf courses.”

During the early part of this year, the BTA influenced several visitor golf events that improved travel numbers during the quieter months of the year for tourism. Those events include an Executive Women’s Golf Association event, Chris Langford Pairs and the Grey Goose World Par 3 at Turtle Hill Golf Club.

“More and more cruise vacationers are disembarking and heading to the golf course,” said Andrew Brooks, the BTA’s director of golf sales and marketing.

“And last week I spoke with another college golf coach about the possibility of bringing teams to Bermuda next year for a spring tournament.

“Cruise golfers and college springtime golfers are two areas where strong growth is happening and we think it is sustainable growth.”