another prominent golf professional will soon be competing in Bermuda.

Bermuda Golf Association secretary Tom Smith confirmed yesterday that John Mahaffey, himself a winner of the Shoot-out in 1990, will be taking part in the $50,000 Bermuda Open. The event is being sponsored again by the Bermuda Angle Group which includes international companies ACE Ltd., Exel Ltd., Mid Ocean Ltd. and Mutual Risk Management Ltd.

Mahaffey's presence, along with that of defending champion Jeff Lewis, and other past winners Tim Conley (1987), Bob Mucha ('89) and Gene Fieger ('92) as well as the likes of Dana Quigley, John Riegger and all of Bermuda's top pros, will serve to make this a top quality field.

Mahaffey learned about the Bermuda Open from a local business associate, John Scrymgeour, and his credentials are impressive, having had some $3,806,020 in career earnings since turning professional in 1971.

"We haven't had anybody of that calibre, ever,'' admitted Smith.

Mahaffey, 46, has had Tour victories at the 1973 Sahara Invitational, the 1978 PGA Championship, the 1979 and '84 Bob Hope Desert Classic, the '80 Kemper Open, the '81 Anheuser-Busch Classic, '85 Texas Open, '86 Tournament Players Championship and '89 Federal Express St. Jude Classic.

Mahaffey was also on the 1979 Ryder Cup team and the 1978 and '79 World Cup team and one of the highlights of his career came in 1978 at the PGA Championship when he won a play-off with Tom Watson and Jerry Pate.

The following week he triumphed in the American Optical Classic and then earned a 10-year exemption with a one-stroke victory over Larry Mize in the 1986 Tournament Players Championship.

The Bermuda Open has grown in stature in the last few years, having gone ahead in 1991 without a sponsor. Since then both the prize money -- from $35,000 in '92 to $40,000 last year -- and the size of the field has grown steadily with a record 120 signed up for this month's event which is scheduled for Port Royal between October 13-16.

The winning prize will be $12,000 and there will also be a $5,000 purse for the Pro-Am the day before which will involve some 36 pros and 36 amateurs.

BGA officials are hoping some of the spectator interest shown at the Shoot-out will spill over to the Open.

"If we could get just 10 per cent of the people who went to the Merrill Lynch to the Open we would be delighted,'' said Smith.

Smith admits the event will be fully subscribed at 120 with a waiting list of about 15. In fact that total was reached before the September 30 deadline as Tim Balmer, the 1990 winner, found no spot available when he called the BGA secretary last Thursday.

Last year's runner-up Eddie Kirby is another who left his phone call too late and has missed out on what would have been his 10th Bermuda Open. Also missing will be Martin Gray, fifth overall last year.

"Martin Gray was hot to come but regretfully because of his late decision he couldn't get in,'' explained Smith. "He called last Wednesday to say that he wasn't coming but he then found he could come, by which time I couldn't give him a place.

"It looks like we may have to consider keeping a series of these places open, this is my personal opinion, to cater to these guys who cannot commit themselves until the last minute. We've got to look at that very seriously to see if we should keep a number of spots available for the Tim Balmers, Eddie Kirbys and Martin Grays.'' The deadline was last Thursday, by which time the list had reached its capacity.

"We reduced the field (from 111 last year) to 108 and we filled that up on the 21st so we opened it up again and filled it by the weekend of the 23rd,'' explained Smith.

"The problem is we can't take anymore other than changing the format because we haven't got the hours of daylight. It might come to the stage where we'll have to have a qualifying round but the big problem there is bringing people here to play one qualifying round to be sent home. That's a tricky one.'' Smith would like to see the prize money increase even more, thus securing interest from even more established professionals. "It would be marvellous if the Department of Tourism, who help us quite considerably anyway, could match the purse and by doing that we would have an event that would be internationally recognised,'' he stated.

"You would be able to look at the Bermuda Open as something comparable to Merrill Lynch, maybe something not so grandiose.'' The Open field will include 54 overseas professionals and 30 overseas amateurs along with 27 local amateurs and nine local pros.

Missing among the local amateurs will be Robert Vallis and Scott Mayne; Vallis for professional reasons and Mayne because he is taking a break after the Eisenhower Cup which begins in Paris tomorrow. Henry Ascento and Noel Van Putten will be back from France in time.

The overseas field includes top English amateur John Marks, a 10-member team from the Royal Naval amateur team with handicaps ranging from two to five, as well as four Jamaicans, two Germans and four Japanese players. There is a cut-off after the third day when the field will be reduced by half for the final round.

Jeff Lewis