The last thing Michael Sims needed was for today to be Friday the 13th.

As far as the rookie pro golfer is concerned he has already suffered all the doom and gloom associated with Black Friday.

In one of the worst performances of his career thus far the Bermudian shot a horrible nine-over 81 in the second round of the Captain's Open (Port) tournament in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, yesterday.

This unravelled all his good work from Wednesday's first round after which he had been joint tenth on two-under 70 - four shots adrift of the then leader.

However, in a bizarre twist, the Bermudian's two-round total of seven-over 151 squeezed him into the cut as the last player advancing to today's third and final round of the New England Pro Tour event.

Ryan Ouellette of West Palm Beach, Florida, leads the tournament with six-under 138, having shot three-under 69 in both rounds. Sims' 81 was the day's poorest score by two strokes.

"Today was a nightmare," declared Sims candidly, speaking to The Royal Gazette last night. "I don't know, my confidence just wasn't there. It's been lacking. I still haven't found my comfort zone yet. It's tough to be aiming for a particular spot and to hit the shot you want to hit when your confidence is low. You second-guess yourself all the time. I just don't have the confidence right now. Yesterday (Wednesday) just happened to work out. I nicked it around and I was fortunate to shoot 70.

"Today was just bad breaks to go along with bad swings. It was everything. I couldn't make a putt drop. I hit the ball badly. Nothing was good. I'm just going through one of those phases."

Still managing a chuckle, the 23-year-old said he was "very shocked" to make the cut but, focusing on the positive, noted it gives him another day to play and try to rectify things.

"This can all change in one swing or on one nine. I've had that happen before. I am just going to lay back and forget about this. I've got to stay patient, work on some things and sooner or later it's going to turn around."

The quickness with which golfing fortunes can change brought to mind two tournaments which he won last year.

"In one I was four-over through the first five holes and I ended at 13-under for the tournament. In the other tournament I was six-over through nine (holes) and I finished at eight-under two days later.

"All it takes is one good nine and who knows what could happen from there but it's just fighting it through."