THEY will probably be the youngest team in the field next week at the World Amateur Team Championships in Puerto Rico.

But the trio of Jarryd Dillas (19-years-old), Fraser Hunt and Eric West (both 20-years-old) could possibly put in the best performance a Bermuda team has ever had at this tournament which over the years has attracted the best players the game has ever seen.

"It is going to be tough ? there's no doubt about that but I feel that if all of us are on our game, we could possibly break into the top 10," said Eric West this week.

If Bermuda's team does indeed place anywhere in the top 10, it would be one of the most remarkable stories in Bermuda sports history.

And there is definitely something different about this team. Usually when Bermuda send their best three amateurs away to the Worlds, the team is mostly comprised of players who work and live in Bermuda ? players who are not so young.

That is not the case with these three. All of them are on golf scholarships to American universities and as such are getting a feast of highly competitive golf with their respective programmes.

Bermuda captain for the Worlds, Bob Legere who is also head of the Bermuda Golf Association, said: "They all have a lot of experience despite being quite young. The collegiate golf in the US has become very sophisticated over the years. I feel very good about this team. They are playing against the best amateurs in the US with their college teams and I can see maybe a couple of these guys going professional down the road.

"Eric has a lot of rhythm to his game and both he and Jarryd hit the ball very long off the tee. Fraser plays a more conservative game and he is very good putter. It is great when you think about it ? here we are, a small country like Bermuda and we are going up against the best of the US, Australia, Britain, Spain...."

Hunt, who is a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island, said: "I am really looking forward to going to Puerto Rico. All three of us have the ability to play well. I think it will be a matter of all of us coming down there with our best stuff. I think we have a really good chance to do well. We can all play as good as anyone but it is a matter of having it when we need it. If we are all playing well we have the ability of going pretty low."

West, who plays for the University of California (Berkeley) said: "We all know each other very well ? we have been playing together since we were little ? about 10 years old.

"I think it bodes well for us in terms that all three of us can shoot really low numbers if we decide to show up. We are practising every day and we can all shoot under 72 whereas before when we sent a team to the Worlds, par was a really good score ? and then we ended up never even shooting that. If you look at the scores for Bermuda in previous Worlds you had guys shooting in the high 70s and low 80s. I haven't been playing that well this year but I have been shooting in the low 70s.

"We are a young team for Bermuda. We will probably be one of the youngest teams in the tournament, if not the youngest team. All of us can play and if we can get it together we have a pretty good chance of coming in the top 10. But we have to show up."

Dillas, who is a sophomore at Columbus State University in Georgia, said he is hoping the two courses where the tournament will be staged, will be tough layouts.

"I don't know the courses but I hope they are tough courses. I think Fraser, Eric and myself will have a better chance of competing if it they are tough courses where the scoring will be a little higher. I hope it will be a good test."

The championships get underway on Thursday and will be a 72-hole stroke play finishing on Sunday, October 31. Up for grabs will be the historic Eisenhower Trophy.

Host club is the Rio Mar Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The two courses which will be used are Rio Mar's Ocean and River courses.

The Ocean course is a par 72 and is 6,807 yards long while the River course, also a par 72, is 6,973 yards long.

Greg Norman designed the River Course, which opened in 1997, while George and Tom Fazio designed the Ocean Course, which opened in 1976.

The Ocean course was built alongside the coast of the Atlantic and can be quite windy. The design features tree-lined fairways and small greens. The River course is located near the Mameyes River and the El Yunque National Rainforest and the design includes tropical wetlands and protected archaeological areas.

While Dillas is the youngest of the trio, he also is a veteran of the World Amateur Championships as he represented Bermuda two years ago in Malaysia along with Nick Mansell and Tim Carr.

Dillas said that having a young, college-aged team could benefit Bermuda.

"Two years ago Nick, Tim and myself played in Malaysia and Nick admitted that he and Tim had not played that much competitive golf. Both of these guys were working full time and that is not easy whereas myself, Fraser and Eric are all playing competitively in school. I think we may be sharper going into the tournament because of that."

Dillas has, over the past couple of years, been changing his swing and he is now seeing the rewards.

"My game is pretty good ? things are coming together nicely and I am hitting the ball really well. I just need to hole some putts. I am driving it really well and I am shaping the ball well off the tee and getting it in play a lot more. I am hitting a lot of greens and giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities ? but again I am not making those putts."

Talking about the history between his teammates, Dillas said: "They are a little older than I am but we all came up through the Junior Golf Programme together and we have competed against each other for a number of years now. We have all had our share of victories and defeats ? we are a good group. We are all friends on and off the golf course and hopefully we can come together as a team and put up some good numbers in Puerto Rico."

Before going to college Dillas was at the Leadbetter Academy. "That was when I started (changing) my golf swing ? last year was a rebuilding process as well. I have been working with my coach here, Mark Immelman, and he is a very good instructor. For the last two years I have been tinkering with my swing and tighten things up and I feel my swing has really improved. Now I am starting to control the ball and shape it, improving my trajectory and spins.

"Changing your swing is also about confidence. You don't know how it is going to turn out ? how it is going to affect the shot. When you have a swing that you have worked with for so long you know what your misses are going to be. You know what your normal shot is going to be.

"But this swing change has taken some of the flaws out of it ? my misses are a lot smaller. Initially you have doubts over your shots because you are hitting different sets of shots.

"Now I am becoming more confident and I am being more aggressive off the tee ? especially off par fives. I am using my length to my advantage."

West said he has played three events so far since starting his junior year at the University of California. "I have been playing regularly and I feel ready to go."

Although, like Hunt and Dillas, he hasn't played the courses in Puerto Rico, West said: "They hold a college event there every year. I haven't played it but I understand it is a pretty good course. I am good friends with Ryan Moore, the US Amateur champion, and he told me that it was a nice resort and it can be pretty breezy because it (Ocean course) is along the water. It is supposed to be a pretty good test."

West said the strong teams should come from the Australia, the US and perhaps Spain.

"I have played with the Australian national champion at the Canadian Amateur and he is very good. And you know the other two Australians on the team will be very solid. The Spanish are playing in college so they will be tough. I think it will come down to who can manage their games the best."

Of playing at university, West said: "It can be tough playing and going to school. It is harder at Berkeley because it is a demanding academic school. There are other schools that are not that tough. They don't give us a lot of leeway with athletics here."

Before going to university West attended the Leadbetter Academy for two years and the Golf Academy at Hilton Head for a year.

Hunt, who attends the University of Rhode Island and is a sophomore, said he is excited by playing with West and Dillas. "Usually the Bermuda team is a young guy with a couple of older players. I think this is the first time we have had three college players all going," he said.

His golf this season has been "pretty good". He added: "I had a good summer and won the Bermuda Amateur. I would have been going to Charlotte (North Carolina) for a tournament with my college team but instead I am going to Puerto Rico for the World Amateur."

Asked if his teammates were envious of him going to the Worlds, he said: "The probably are a little envious of me going. The US team are very, very strong. and there are guys on my team who are really good players but who would never get the opportunity of going to the Worlds. I realise I am very fortunate to have this opportunity."

Hunt also said that playing on an "island" course may help them.

"It could be similar to what we see at home. I think it is an ideal place to have a good tournament but there are going to be a lot of very good golfers down there. The Americans and Australians will be strong as will a lot of the European teams."

There are a record number of 70 teams who will be playing for the championship trophy.

The format will see each team, which has two or three players, play 18 holes of stroke play for four days. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by players from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day total is the team's score for the championship.

Each team will play twice on each of Rio Mar's two golf courses.

The winning team in the men's competition receives custody of the Eisenhower Trophy for the ensuing two years. Members of the winning team receive gold medals; members of the second-place team receive silver medals; and members of the third-place team receive bronze medals.

In 2002 the US defended the Eisenhower Trophy and won the international prize for the 12th time, defeating France by three strokes at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

D.J. Trahan, the US College Player of the Year at Clemson University, shot a final-round 6-under-par 66 to lead the American surge that erased a three-stroke deficit after three rounds. Two other collegiate All-Americans represented the US ? Ricky Barnes, the 2002 US Amateur champion, and Hunter Mahan, the 1999 US Junior Amateur champion. Australia and the Philippines finished tied for third and Austria and New Zealand shared fifth place.

Jack Nicklaus, who represented the US in 1960 at Merion Golf Club (East Course), in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, holds the 72-hole individual scoring record of 269, although individual champions are not recognised.

The World Amateur Team Championship has now been conducted in 22 different nations.

Since the inception of the World Amateur Team Championships, the best amateurs in the world have participated. Many of those players are the most recognised in the game of golf ? players like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jesper Parnevik, Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Justin Leonard, Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis.

The 2006 World Amateur Team Championship will be played near Cape Town, South Africa.