Anyone who believes the life of a professional golfer is money for old rope should spend a few weeks with Michael Sims.

Sure, for the likes of Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and the others at the higher echelons of the sport it's a more than comfortable way to make a living.

But for the rest it can be a long and tiring road.

Take Sims for example.

Having just completed his best finish on the Buy.Com tour at the Dayton Open in Ohio you might have expected the 23 year-old to indulge in a little celebrating.

But no. The Bermudian allowed himself a small pat on the back for his 14-under joint 19th place finish, then headed for the car park, loaded his clubs into the boot and set off in search of his next pay cheque.

No private plane, no personal assistant - just the radio for company and a 12 hour drive ahead to Arkansas for this week's port of call, the Fort Smith Classic.

When this reporter called Sims had already set off.

"It's OK," he said when asked if he was alright to speak while on the road, "I do most of my talking while I'm driving."

Never one to say three words if two will do, Sims was his customary understated self when asked about his performance over the weekend.

"I'm pleased. I'm happy I don't have to do another Monday qualifier this week," he said, his voice lacking any hint of elation that his weekend's work merited.

The fact he does not have to qualify for the next event - top 25 finishers are exempt - is due to his performance from round two onwards, a performance that saw him miss the Yankee Trace course record by two shots when he fired a 64 on Friday. That was the best score by an Islander on Tour and he followed it up on Saturday with a two-under par 70 and yesterday a five-under 67.

If only he had not stumbled on the back nine in his one-over par opening round Sims might have been looking at a top ten finish and a cheque considerably bigger than the one for $4,972.50 he collected. But he's not the sort of person to dwell on things like that.

"My life could be a ton of `what ifs'," he said. "`What if hadn't done that' or `what if I had done that'.

"It's a bad swing or an unlucky bounce here and there. But that's just the way it goes.

"I played very solid this weekend," he went on. "There was a three hole stretch (bo"I played very solid this weekend," he went on. "There was a three hole stretch (bogey, bogey, double bogey) on Thursday when I didn't know what I was doing. Then Friday went really well, Saturday I did what I had to do to get under par and today (Sunday) I played really solid."

Sims is hoping he is finding a groove which will see him reach a level of consistency in his first season as a pro.

"You never know in golf but I hope so," he said. "You just have to keep working on it."

Then to make sure his feet remained firmly on the ground he added quickly: "I don't want to jinx myself. I could tell you `yes' and then go and screw up this whole week."

As Michael Sims knows better than most, there's a long road ahead.