BERMUDA teenage golfer Nick Jones has been chosen as Golfweek magazine's Young Player of the Week. This is the first time a Bermudian player has been chosen by the influential magazine.

Jones was given the award last week by the Golfweek staff after he shot consecutive 69s to win the International Junior Golf Tour event at Bent Tree Country Club in Sarasota, Florida earlier this month.

Jones, has had a superb start to 2008 as he won back-to-back titles in Florida. He also won an event on the Junior Players' Tour in Sebastian Country Club in Sebastian, Florida. Like the IJGT, the tournament in Sebastian was also a 36-hole event.

Jones' father, Bermuda pro Eardley Jones, said: "No junior golfer in Bermuda has even been given the award of Player of the Week by Golfweek magazine. It is a great accomplishment for him and I am so pleased. Nick is really thrilled by it. He has so much confidence right now ¿ I am so proud of my son. He has really worked hard at his game and he is seeing all that work pay off. And then this weekend he will be playing at the annual Florida Classic at Highlands Ridge in Avon Park. That is part of the Junior Players' Tour and is a 36-hole tournament in Florida.

"In the last three competitive rounds Nick has shot under par. When he first went to compete in Florida a couple of years ago he was ranked about 4,000 ¿ now his ranking is 741 and Golfweek has him ranked at 485. He is really improving. As you can imagine Florida is a magnet for young golfers all over the world. The competition is extremely tough but that is where you have to be to make it."

The 6' 2" player also hits it big. "Nick hits it over 300 yards off the tee ¿ he averages about 300 yards and you really have to hit it long over there. It is not like in Bermuda where the courses can be short. In Florida especially, the courses are very long and they make these kids hit it from the back tees."

Jones, now 18-years-old, is currently attending Grandview Prep and he graduates on Bermuda Day, May 24. Eardley Jones said: "Nick he has applied to a few colleges and we should be hear from them by the end of this month. He should be helped by with what he has done in the last few weeks ¿ he has been one of the top junior players in Florida recently. In the last tournament he beat all of the (David) Leadbetter guys. He is really coming into his own now."

On March 1 the youngster will return to Bermuda to try and duplicate what his father did many years ago ¿ win the annual Matchplay Championship at the Mid Ocean Club.

"He was runner-up last year," said Eardley. "It took me three years to win the Matchplay Championship and this will be Nick's third year of trying. Hopefully he can win it. However when I won it I was a man ¿ about 30 years old."

Jones said he was gratified at seeing how well his son is doing now. "It has been a lot of hard work. Nick stated playing when he could barely walk ¿ I gave him and plastic club and a plastic ball and he was banging it through the house. Now look what he is doing!"