James Stout will have some words of advice ringing in his ears before he takes to the court against World Open squash champion Dave Palmer next week.

Stout earned the right to play Palmer in the Logic Bermuda Squash Open 2003 after pulling off a shock victory in local qualifying against Tommy Sherratt at the weekend.

Stout saw off the more fancied Sherratt 3-1 at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association's courts to become one of two locals to face some of the world's top players at the blue riband event - the other being Gary Plumstead.

Australian Palmer, who has recently taken up residency in Bermuda, is currently ranked number three in the world and the match with Stout will represent the Bermudian's biggest ever match.

As a result Bermuda's director of squash Ross Triffitt said he would caution him about his approach prior to going on court.

"What tends to happen is you lift your game when you are playing somebody better," said Triffitt. "But what I will do is tell him (Stout) to think very carefully about what he is doing on court. The tendency is to get very excited and to burn too much energy in the first few rallies to be competitive.

"The more experienced players are very good at playing themselves in and keeping the energy in reserve.

"What is most likely to happen is James will go out too hard and too fast to try and match it with Dave and it will quickly become one-sided when he runs out of gas. I will tell him he has to play good basic squash and get himself in front so he can open up some opportunities."

Plumstead, meanwhile, will face John White, the man who lost to Palmer in the Open final in Belgium in December.

White is number four in the world and will prove a daunting prospect even for someone of the calibre of the Island player.

"Gary has actually played John White before in a German league match. John beat Gary 3-0, quite convincingly and this game gives Gary the opportunity to play him on home soil, so to speak, and he is hoping for a slightly different result," said Triffitt. "But these guys are at their peak and it will be very tough for our local guys to even be competitive. That said, at the same time it is an enormous opportunity for them."