Pro golfer Michael Sims has made a flying start in his bid for a second successive berth on the South American Tour.

At the half-way stage yesterday, the Bermudian was in second place out of 50 golfers competing in the Tour de las Americas Q-School at Bonaventure Country Club in Florida.

Two rounds of 68 left him sitting pretty at 136, eight-under par overall and two shots off the current leader Magnus Carlsson of Sweden who has carded 69 and 65 so far in the tournament which boasts a $10,000 purse.

Sims, who is fresh from the Nations Cup in Mexico last week, capitalised on a superb start which saw him heading the leaderboard by a shot after Tuesday's first round. He is now four shots clear of Americans Jeff Yeckes and Adam Armagost who are joint third on four-under.

Given the impressive performances by the front-runners so far, speculation has mounted that the record winning score at Bonaventure - 15-under by Lucas Glover in the same event last year - could well be threatened if not broken.

The straightforward manner in which Carlsson spoke of his second round made the possibility of a new record seem even more likely.

"I just kept the ball in play and made a couple of putts. I think I only missed three greens and a couple were near-misses, leaving easy chip-and-putts for par. In fact, not very much exciting happened out there. I suppose that's how it should be," said the 23-year-old in an interview on the Tour website.

Sims, 24, would also be hoping to maintain a solid showing and earn full Tour membership rights - status for events in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico - and with it a chance to qualify for the European Challenge Tour-Tour de las Americas co-sanctioned tournaments in early 2004 where a win can provide a full-year player-card in Europe.