He?s done it five times before, but the novelty of getting past the first stage of PGA Tour Q School never seems to wear off for Michael Sims as he showed in Texas yesterday.

The Island?s best golfer carded a four-round total of six-under par at the Cypresswood Golf Course in Spring, just outside of Houston, to finish eighth out of 84 golfers and easily within the top 26 and ties required to advance to the second of three stages, with a lucrative PGA or Nationwide Tour card at stake.

After shooting an even-par 72 in the first round on Tuesday on the 7,212-yard course, the 27-year-old put together successive scores of 69 (-3) in rounds two and three to leave him in a tie for 14th.

And needing only to play conservatively yesterday to be virtually guaranteed a phase-two spot, this year?s Bermuda Open runner-up did just that ? knocking it round in even par once again on a day where the wind picked up and low scoring was a rarity.

?I?m very, very pleased with the way I played this week,? said Sims last night.

?I?ve got through to the second stage a few times before, but I can tell you it never gets boring. It?s always a little nerve-wracking because you really don?t want to fall at the very first hurdle.

?But to get through and also play some good golf is especially pleasing. I hit the ball well in all four rounds and in the second and third rounds particularly I made some excellent putts.

?I didn?t go out to shoot even par in the last round, but the wind was incredibly strong today so I?ve got to be happy with that.

?Another thing that helped me this week was having a very good college buddy of mine caddying for me. I usually have somebody I know on the bag during Q School but for some reason it really worked well with him this week. We played college golf together and he knows my game very well, which helped.

?Hopefully I?ll be able to persuade him to caddy for me in stage two as well!?

Both before and during the Bermuda Open earlier this month ? where as defending champion Sims finished two shots back of multiple winner Tim Conley ? the Canadian Tour rookie was struggling with injuries to both his wrist and foot, which he claimed were restricting his swing.

But a few sessions of intensive physiotherapy in the week before he left for Texas appeared to do the trick, with Sims saying yesterday he was experiencing little or no pain.

?My left foot was hurting me so badly during the Open and for a couple of days afterwards I could barely walk,? he said.

?I don?t know exactly what was wrong with it or my wrist, but the treatment has worked and this week was the first time I?ve played pain-free golf for quite a while. I just hope the pain stays away.?

Sims now faces a break of two weeks before Q School?s second stage ? from where he has never advanced after six fruitless years in search of his card.

As was the case for stage one, the USPGA have selected six golf courses situated across the country for round two ? which gets under way from November 16-19 ? with each qualifier allowed to state a preference as to where they would like to play.