Daniel Augustus is no stranger to the Gosling's Invitational, or Belmont Hills, but he'll find himself in alien territory when the tournament begins on Monday.

Having won the amateur division three years in a row the Bermudian will compete as a professional in the event for the first time next week, but his approach is going to be the same as ever.

Not that he isn't going out to win, or think that his past experience will help him, but he's going to make sure he has fun.

"It's my first year as a professional, so it's a different ball game," said Augustus, "but I'll try and feel comfortable like I was when I was an amateur, not think of it as 'I am a professional'. I'm just going to go out there and have fun.

"It makes a difference, I'm used to playing on that golf course under tournament conditions, that makes a huge difference in golf.

"When you look at Tiger Woods, when he won his first Masters as a professional, he'd played in it for three years before that.

"I won the amateur division three years in a row, so I hope that carries over to the professional side of it."

However while the majority of the other 51 professionals who are taking part will play in the warm-up tournament on Sunday against the amateur players, Augustus is staying away and preparing in his own way.

"I'll go up there and play a few holes, putt and chip around the greens, I don't want to play in an event before hand," he said. "I don't want to play a practice round, keep score, play well, and then have this big expectation for myself.

"Or vice versa, I don't want to play bad and then have that carry over into the tournament."

He will at least be going into the week in some semblance of form after winning the local Jack Daniels Tour Championship at Tucker's Point on Tuesday. And while winning would be nice, it is the prize money available, rather than the title, that is driving Augustus.

"My goal is as it always has been," he said, "I have to try and get money to go overseas and play as much as possible. If I do well then I can make a pretty good paycheck which will help towards funding that. I'm looking at the Gosling's as a way of making money to get me overseas.

"I have to be stationed overseas in order for me to progress overseas. I can't expect to do well overseas consistently after only being out there for a week and then coming back here for four months. That doesn't work.

"You look at any player when they take time off from golf, they come back and they are rusty, even if they have been practising at home. You have to be golf fit, and mentally prepared. You could have the skills, but if you're not playing in those conditions consistently, and playing in that environment, it's a totally different ball game."

Come March Augustus wants to be able to travel to Canada to take part in the Canadian Tour's Q-School, and the large number of Canadian professionals playing next week will give him some indication of where he is, and where he needs to be.

"I can look at their games and evaluate myself after the tournament to see where I am," said Augustus.

"See what they do, what I do, see what they do wrong, what I do wrong, and how they handle themselves in some situations. If they mess up, how they come back from it.

"However, it is a totally different style of golf in Bermuda. Playing here and playing overseas is two totally different ball games. Bermuda golf courses are different, they are very short, but they pose more of a challenge for some reason because of the greens.

"Most American golf courses don't have such drastic elevation changes as Bermuda does, so those type of things make a huge difference. Everyone knows at Belmont that you could have a 20ft putt and be in jail."