Current Bermuda Open champion Michael Sims and three-time former champion P.H.Horgan III find themselves in the same field today as they step out for the first round of the crucial second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Bermudian Sims and Horgan of Newport, Rhode Island, who won the Open back to back in 2003 and 2004, will both play on the Bad/Ugly course at the Hombre Golf Club in Panama City, Florida ? one of three venues chosen for the second stage tournament.

And for both they and the rest of the 78-strong field the stakes are huge.

Horgan lost his playing privileges on the main PGA Tour some years ago, although he has made several appearances on the lesser Nationwide Tour.

Twenty-six year-old Sims, however, will be bidding to earn his first-ever card on either of those potentially lucrative circuits.

Competition for the top 20 plus ties which will ensure a spot in the third and final qualifying stage ? played over five rounds and at the end of which all players will earn at least limited privileges on the Nationwide Tour ? will be intense.

Among the Hombre field are several former PGA Tour players desperate to regain the status ? among them Pat Bates, Jose Coceres, Dicky Pride, Paul Gow, Ken Green, Scott Gump, Glen Hnatiuk, Dick Mast, John Maginnes, Skip Kendall and Larry Mize.

Sims will likely tee off in confident mood.

He romped to a record victory in last month's Bermuda Open, winning by five shots over Dwayne Pearman, and two weeks' ago made his mark at the first stage of Qualifying School, firing a final round of 66 at the Cypresswood Golf Club in Spring, Texas, to comfortably secure a place in the top 20.

Talking to last week Sims said of the second stage event: "All I can worry about is my own game. I'm playing well at the moment and I just want to keep it going.

"Mentally, I feel in good shape, and that's important.

"I've played Hombre before and I know it's going to be tough. It's a tight course, and I can't imagine the scores are going to be too low. I've just got to continue to do what I've been doing well."

Sims has reached the second stage of Q-School previously but never the final stage, which has been described as the hardest and most mentally challenging tournament in all of pro golf.