the first day of the Rolex Junior Classic in Orlando, Florida, yesterday.

The 18-year-old Bermudian shot a two-under 70 to enjoy a two-stroke advantage over three others in the final tournament of the American Junior Golf Assocaition year.

Sims, a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, where he is on a golf scholarship, used birdies on the back nine of the Walt Disney World Magnolia course to take the lead over Justin Lee, Michael Meness and Greg Jones, each of whom shot 72.

Further back were the likes of Trevor Immelman, David Gossett, Kevin Stadler and Bubba Dickerson, considered among the top juniors in the US. Dickerson, won the Future Masters tournament earlier this year in Alabama -- an event in which Sims finished ninth.

"Some of the top players didn't play so good today, which is surprising,'' said Sims, by phone from Orlando, where he is staying with his parents Bruce and Carol.

Sims himself started off slowly, opening with a bogey on his first hole, the Magnolia tenth. But a strong short-iron game got even better as the day went on, as Sims drained a pair of 15-foot birdie putts on the third and fourth holes, and chipped in from about 20 yards on the fifth. He finished his round with a ten-footer for birdie.

The tournament is his fourth in the US this year. He also competed in the Bermuda Amateur Championship and won the Atlantic Tournament.

He received an invitation to join 120 other top youngsters via his second-place finish in the Cape Cod tournament. Only 108 are taking part, to be cut down to 32 after two days. They then embark on match-play, playing two rounds on Thursday and Friday with the final on Saturday.