and Tom Kite.

Arthur Jones and Glen Simmons, a pair of rookies on Bermuda's squad, will join that illustrious company.

And that, acknowledged Jones, is all a bit unnerving for a player whose claim to fame before today was his conquest of heavily-favoured Scott Mayne in the Bermuda Match Play Championship a couple of years back.

"Am I nervous? Absolutely,'' Jones said. "You know that whoever we play with this week, that country's golf population will be very, very large. And we'll be playing a better standard of player than we're used to playing in Bermuda.

"Obviously I'll feel the pressure on the first tee on the first day. Then again, we haven't got a great deal to prove, so we may as well go out there and enjoy it.'' Simmons, a carefree character, admits to some jitters, too. "Yes, I'm nervous but I'm still confident I can play well,'' he said. "More than anything, I'm just excited to play for my country.'' Simmons and Jones are joined on Bermuda's team by a pair of veterans on the World Amateur stage.

Jack Wahl, winner of the Bermuda Stroke Play Championship this year for the second time, is at his sixth World Amateur. He has been the non-playing captain three times, and will play in his third event beginning today.

Robert Vallis, twice the Bermuda amateur champion and the Bermuda stroke play winner, is making his second appearance at a World Amateur.

Wahl said he understands how his two team-mates feel about their first trip to the tournament. "The first one you go to, playing the first couple of holes with strangers, it can really get under your skin if you let it,'' he said.

"I've been to five of these tournaments before, and I'm a little more relaxed than I was at the first one, I can assure you. On the first tee on the first day, with a lot of people standing around watching, it can be a little intimidating.'' Still, Wahl is confident his team-mates will stay cool under the inevitable pressure.

"Glen's pretty loose as it is,'' he said. "Arthur had a little trouble with his driver earlier in the week, but he got that straightened out. Glen, Arthur and Bobby are all fine players who hit the ball a long way. If they keep it straight they'll do well this week.'' The players will each play two rounds at Capilano, one of Canada's top-rated courses and two rounds at Marine Drive, which last week hosted the World Women's Amateur.

The team will be split up on the first two days, with two players at Marine and the other two teeing off at Capilano. The top 25 teams will play Marine Drive on Saturday and finish at Capilano on Sunday, with the other 25 teams playing the courses in the reverse order on the weekend.

Delegates to the World Amateur Golf Council (WAGC) have voted down a proposal to adopt a zone qualifying format that would have reduced the number of competing teams to 36. There are a record 50 teams entered in the tournament this year.

The proposal, aimed at cutting costs by eliminating the need for two courses to host the tournament, was voted down largely because of opposition from the smaller WAGC members.

"The small countries like us said, `No way','' Bermudian delegate Brendan Ingham said. "Having zone qualifying defeats the whole purpose of the World Amateur, which is to develop friendships through golf around the world. It would eliminate smaller countries from playing in the tournament. Can you imagine if we had to qualify against the United States and Canada?'' ARTHUR JONES -- `We may as well go out ther and enjoy it.'