A seven-day break from golf and a new set of clubs appeared to work wonders for Michael Sims last week as the Bermuda number one secured his best-ever Nationwide Tour finish at the Knoxville Open in Tennessee.

The Bermuda number one carded a superb eight-under par 280 over the four rounds at the Fox Den Country Club to finish in a tie for 14th and pick up a cheque for just under $7,000 — almost triple the amount of prize money he had won in 13 previous events.

The result could have been even better but for a double-bogey seven on the par-five 18th yesterday, with the 28-year-old having started the last at four-under for the round and in a tie for eighth at ten-under for the tournament.

Despite the final-hole hiccup, Sims seemed very happy last night with the quality of his overall performance — particularly in the aftermath of a challenging six months during which he missed 11 out of 13 cuts and found form and confidence extremely hard to come by.

“I was really happy with the way I played and it was nice to get a good result this week after missing so many cuts,” he said.

“I took a week off over the US Open and didn’t touch a golf club for around five days. And this week I turned up with a new driver, a new set of irons and a new putter and just went out there and played.

“I was just so much more relaxed than normal. Even when things weren’t going my way out there and I had a strung a few bogeys together I didn’t let it bother me and in each round I managed to come back strongly.

“To shoot under-par in every round (four-under, one-under, one-under, two-under) gives me a lot of satisfaction because I hadn’t done that before on the Nationwide Tour, so hopefully this will be the start of some much better performances.”

Asked why he had taken the rather drastic step of replacing all his clubs, the former Bermuda Open champion was unashamedly candid.

“Well, things couldn’t exactly have gotten much worse could they? I just decided it was time to try something drastic,” he said.

“When you’re missing cut after cut like I was there comes a point where you have to do something to turn things around and that’s what I came up with.

“I think overall though my problem has been thinking about things too much — over-analysing my swing and letting the bad shots get to me. This week like I said I was just so relaxed. I tried not to think too much and beat myself over the head if I had a bad hole — I just went out there to try and enjoy myself and luckily things worked out well.

“I didn’t have a bogey in the first round and I made some really good par saves, putted well, hit the ball pretty cleanly. And even in the rounds after that when things weren’t going well I didn’t let it phase me — I put the bad shots out of my mind and moved on to the next hole.

“The double-bogey on the last was a bit unfortunate, I hit the ball in the water hazard and had to take a drop. But even still I’m happy with way I played in general and I’m just looking forward to the next tournament to see whether I can do it over again.”

Sims has now played 14 events on theNationwide Tour this year and has made three cuts.

His prize money winnings for year are now $9,723 — taking him to 167th on the money list.

He’ll be back in action next Thursday in Findley Lake, New York at the $600,000 Peak n’Peak Classic.

Sims ties for 14th