A succession of missed putts towards the end of the round spoiled what looked to be turning into a solid first 18 holes for Bermuda's golfers at the World Amateur Team Championships in South Africa yesterday.

Robert Vallis, Nick Mansell and Will Haddrell finished the day with a team total of ten-over par, leaving them in a tie for 42nd place out of 73 teams.

Canada are leading the competition on five-under par — two shots up on Holland and three on France.

Vallis — this year's national amateur strokeplay champion — enjoyed the best round of the three on the De Zalze golf course near the town of Stellenbosch in Western Province by carding a four-over 76, while Mansell came in two shots further back with a six-over 78.

Eisenhower Cup rookie Haddrell, meanwhile, could hardly have endured a worse debut for Bermuda, shooting an enormously disappointing ten-over 82 — a round which began with a triple bogey seven on the first and did not improve greatly after that.

As one of the oldest players in the tournament, the multi-time Mid Ocean Club champion Vallis is being seriously out-gunned off the tee by many of the young aspiring pros competing this week.

But on a course with narrow fairways which tends to reward accuracy over length, the conditions were more to Vallis' liking.

He found himself three-over at the turn, however, after recording one birdie and four bogeys on the front nine — before getting back to two-over with a birdie on the par-four 13th.

But three-putts on both the 17th and 18th led to two more bogeys and meant Vallis had played the course's four par-fives in three-over par.

Mansell recorded two birdies, six bogeys and a double bogey in his round of 78 — and in a similar vein to Vallis struggled with his putting in the latter stages of the round, three-putting on the last three greens for a bogey on each occasion.

Bermuda play their second round today on the nearby Stellenbosch course — where the tree-lined fairways are reportedly just as narrow but the greens slightly more forgiving.

"Today was certainly tough, but the disappointing thing is we were looking in reasonable shape until both Nick and I had some trouble on the final few holes," said Vallis, who is competing in his third Eisenhower Cup — his first since 1992.

"The greens at the De Zalze course are difficult to read and I had trouble all day getting the pace of my putts right. But I shot a 76 in the last practice round and I was hoping to do better today. And up until the last two holes, I was in a position to achieve that.

"I spoke to Will (Haddrell) for a couple of minutes after his round, and obviously he's disappointed with how it went, but it is only one bad round and it certainly wasn't the worst round of the day.

"It was his first Eisenhower Cup and maybe he was a little nervous — we all were — but he'll be alright. He's a talented player and one bad round won't bother him."

Before the tournament began, team captain Bob Legere said he believed the Bermuda team were the strongest they had been for many years and that he was optimistic they could eclipse the Island's best-ever finish of 16th — which came at the inaugural event in 1958.

But after such a lacklustre start, Vallis admitted the more realistic hope was a place in the top half of the field.

"We haven't talked too much about where we want to finish and we've tried not to set ourselves a goal — we just need to get out there and play," he said.

"Saying that, we would like to get into the top half by the end of tomorrow, because after round two, the teams in the top half all play on the same course and if you're in the bottom half you feel a bit out of it playing on the other course.

"We'll keep on battling away though and hopefully things will improve."

[bul] Aspiring PGA Tour player Michael Sims was unable to complete his third round of Q School yesterday after the Cypresswood Golf Club in Spring, Texas was showered by rain all day — forcing play to be abandoned in the mid-afternoon.

Sims began the round yesterday in a tie for 14th at three-under par and needing to stay within the top 26 and ties to advance to the second of three qualifying phases.

The Bermuda Open runner-up shot an even par 72 on Tuesday followed by a three-under 69 on Wednesday to sit seven shots off the lead.

The majority of the third round scores were not available by press time last night.