A team of veteran Bermuda golfers have been crowned world champions following a memorable performance in San Diego, California.

The four players ? Max Abend (captain), Howard DeSilva, Roland Lines and Tom Wilding ? claimed net honours at the World Senior Golf International Team Championships, topping a field which included some 70 players from 11 countries.

All members of the Bermuda Senior Golfers' Society, the team accomplished what no other Bermuda foursome had managed during some 40 years of representation at the annual championships.

This year's event was held at the Rancho Bernardo Inn golf course in San Diego, with the net title being decided over 36 holes.

Bermuda first played in the prestigious tournament in 1963, and while individuals have since been successful, this year marked the first time the locals had lifted the Francis H. I. Brown Low Net Team Trophy.

The victory was particularly meaningful to DeSilva, who has been a member of the Bermuda team for the past 15 years.

In addition to winning the team trophy, all of the players also enjoyed individual success.

DeSilva was the 75 and over low gross medal champion, Abend the 60-64 low net winner and Wilding the 75 and over low net runner-up.

Lines, meanwhile, paired with a player from Taiwan to win the 18-hole two-ball better-ball Bermuda Longtail Trophy and also teamed with two players from Taiwan and another from the USA to win the 18-hole four-ball best-ball Argentine Trophy.

In fitting Bermuda tradition, the Island foursome wore their Bermuda Senior Golfers' Society jackets and ties with Bermuda shorts and socks to the opening ceremony and awards dinners.

A team from the United States won the low gross team championship with the Japanese team placing second. Korea were the runners-up in the low net team competition.

The tournament is organised by the World Senior Golf Federation, which was founded in 1960 for the "promotion of goodwill through senior golf, by bringing together golfers from all nations of the world in a friendly spirit of competition and good sportsmanship".

It is the oldest of all international golf organisations.