AMATEURS and professionals from here and North America will converge on several of the island's top courses later this year for the inaugural event of what organisers hope will ultimately rival the long-running Goodwill Championship. The Diamond Cup Invitational, the format of which will be similar to the Ryder Cup, is set for late May and already interest is reportedly running high among local players.

Essentially a low-amateur tournament to be played at Riddell's Bay, Belmont and Port Royal ? preceded by a Charity Fundraiser Pro-Am at Tucker's Point ? the Invitational will also see 12 Bermuda professionals compete against a dozen leading pros from the New England area.

The amateurs, representing Port Royal, Riddell's Bay, Belmont Ocean View, Tucker's Point and Mid Ocean Club, will be divided into two teams ? one representing 'North America' and the other the 'Rest of the World'.

Maximum handicap for men will be 12 and for women, 18.

The event is the brainchild of Bermuda Golf Association volunteer Cindy Hardart who says she's received overwhelming support for the tournament from both the sport's local governing body and all of the club pros.

"I help out with the Goodwill and I was thinking why can't we, the BGA, have a tournament just like that where we can play three or four different courses in the same week," said Hardart.

"And the Goodwill is all men. So I thought why can't we have juniors, women, men, amateurs and pros all in the same tournament. And that's what I'm trying to do.

"The pros from all of the courses have backed me 100 percent. It's been great.

"Pros will play against pros and amateurs against amateurs all within the same event.

"In our first tournament, Bermuda players will make up part of the North America team. But the beauty of this is that eventually we will have so many Americans and Canadians playing in the tournament that Bermudians will represent the Rest of the World."

The size of each team has yet to be decided but ten men and six to eight ladies have been invited from each of Bermuda's clubs.

"So far, including the 24 pros, we have over 70 interested," added Hardart. "One hundred would be perfect.

"I'm from Japan and eventually when this event gets off the ground I'm planning to invite my family and friends from Japan. Right now it's called the Diamond Cup Invitational. But I'll rename it the World Diamond Cup.

"And eventually I want to increase it four days."

Under the present format, the week of competition will begin with a Pro-Am Charity fundraiser on May 20 at Tucker's Point. The tournament will begin in earnest at Riddell's Bay the following day with the men playing alternate shots and the women captain's choice.

On Saturday, May 22, match play competition is planned for Belmont and the event will wind up at Port Royal on Sunday, May 23 with individual strokeplay.

The entry fee is $275 for amateur residents, $375 for amateur visitors and $375 for professionals.

"This is exciting for us since this is the first Ryder Cup-type event in Bermuda consisting of pros, low amateurs and top juniors all playing together," said Hardart, who sits on a committee also comprised of Riddell's Bay head pro Alex Madeiros, Belmont pro Darron Swan and Joe Carr of the New England Professional Golfers Association.

The same committee includes Nick Mansell, Pat Morgan, Susie Elton and Graham Strange.

"Next year, we will be inviting various golf clubs in the US to invite their top players to compete club champions and runners-up," continued Hardart. "We hope to increase the field by 50 percent and make it a real competitive golf event. The maximum handicap for men will go down to eight."

Riddell's Bay Ladies, who can be seen most Fridays dominating the Warwick course, turned out in force on a Saturday earlier this month, raising close to $12,000 for charity.

The group ? 94 of them in all ? threw their support behind the worldwide campaign, Rally For A Cure, designed to raise funds for the continuing fight against breast cancer.

Golf For Women magazine enlisted more than 3,000 clubs across the USA last year and attracted participation of some 150,000 golfers to take part in the campaign.

The Riddell's Bay Ladies joined the crusade on March 6, raising money which will be forwarded to the T.B.Cancer and Health Association.

The tournament, under the stabelford scoring system, saw victory go to Jackie and Bill Brewer and Diane and Reg Donald.