weekend's PBA Bermuda Southern Region Open tournament at Warwick Lanes with a prize purse of over $11,000 up for grabs.

The line-up will include such big name stars of the pro tour as George Pappas, Sam Zurich, Mike Dowless and Guppy Troup, as well as Bermudian-born professional George Joynes.

Of the overseas pros, Pappas is the most well known. In his mid-40s, he is already a member of the Hall of Fame with 18 PBA titles, 10 regional titles and 25 perfect games to his credit.

Zurich can count three PBA titles among his victories, 10 regionals and has a PBA-best of 35 perfect scores of 300.

The others are all solid performers on the tour and should provide a treat for an Island public starved of action at the highest level.

"The whole thing is to put on a show, while at the same time try and upgrade local talent, a process already started,'' said chief organiser Quinton Hayward, Bermuda's lone resident professional. "Four of the local bowlers who will be taking part in the tournament have increased their training and reached higher averages than they even thought possible just in preparation for the pros coming.

"Also, the Pro-Am will give amateur players who have been at Warwick Lanes for several years the opportunity to bowl and talk with the professionals, who up until now they could only see on TV.'' A Pro-Am has been organised for Friday and Saturday using a handicap system whereby amateurs bowl three games, using a different pro as a partner for each.

In all there will be 10 Bermudian bowlers competing in the main event, which starts at noon on Saturday and finishes on Sunday afternoon. Included are the likes of Dean Lightbourne, Mike McCallum, Hilton Hayward, Chris Leverock, Richard Zuill, Steven Riley, Conrad Lister, David Abraham, Doug Hines and Antoine Jones.

Hayward said that he had little trouble selling the idea to Harry Neal Jr., the Southern Regional director, and that many of those coming had asked him in the past about organising a top class tournament in Bermuda.

He added that this time of year was chosen so as to provide an off-season boost to the economy, with many of the bowlers expected to bring along family members making for a "somewhat working vacation''.

"I'm hopeful of this becoming an annual event,'' said Hayward. "There have been some difficulties with last minute cancellations and there are a few other minor things to be sorted out, but these are to be expected and after this year we'll be looking at ways to improve for the next time.'' QUINTON HAYWARD -- Main mover behind Bermuda's first professional bowling tournament.