tournament knowing it could the be the 26th and last! The 72-hole event, one of the most popular on the local golf calendar, is facing an uncertain future with the anticipated sale of the Belmont Hotel to Elbow Beach in the coming months. It has not been determined yet how that will affect the 18-hole course and its availability for future tournaments.

"We're sitting at the moment waiting to see if the sale is final,'' said new tournament chairman Dave Garland yesterday.

"Then we're hoping that the new owners will carry on with the membership and that we can carry on. We're optimistic that we can sit down with the new owners if it (sale) comes about because it is so popular.'' The 1998 edition of the tournament, officially called the Gosling's-Amstel Invitation Championships, is again expected to be fully subscribed with invitations having already been sent out to local and overseas golfers.

"At the moment we've got no vacancies left until I find out who the overseas players are going to be, and how many of them we have,'' said Garland who has taken over this year from Keith Cassidy.

"I have the greatest admiration for Keith, having run it for 12 years,'' he added.

Garland said there had already been a good response from invitations with last year's winner, American Paul Parajeckas, having already committed himself to return this year.

"Ninety percent have said `yes' already -- it's a field of 120,'' explained Garland who said that about 50 of the invitations had been sent overseas. The tournament will run from November 30 to December 3, with the Gosling's Black Seal Rum Pro-Am taking place on November 29.

"I'll know by the 15th of the month, that's when they have to have all the local entries back in, and then I'll know what vacancies there are,'' said Garland.

The tournament has become a favourite for local players and fans since it began back in 1973 with Memmott Fraser of the United Kingdom becoming the first winner. And though some local players are prominent among the list of past winners, including Hav Trott on four occasions, no local has won the overall title since Dwayne Pearman etched his name on the trophy in 1992.

"It's a unique tournament in that it's run by a club,'' said Garland. "The great thing about the Belmont Invitational is you can say it's more a golf festival for local players. It's popular with the local professionals.''