Hampshire PGA are planning a radical revamp of their annual overseas pro-am after entries for this winter's event fell to a record low.

This winter's four-day event, which teed off at El Paraiso on the Costa del Sol yesterday, had just 13 team entries - seven down on last year.

"We have some good players out there like Richard Bland, Kevin Saunders, Richard Berry and Ian Roper, but not enough teams," said Hampshire PGA secretary David Wheeler.

"There have been a number of factors in reducing entries like the wet weather which has tended to keep many golfers away from their clubs this winter.

"But more and more companies and indeed more and more clubs are arranging their own overseas golf, so clearly we have to come up with a new and better format."

Traditionally the overseas pro-am in Spain has always proved popular with the professionals, enabling them to get in some fair-weather practice before the tournament season begins in April.

But it is essentially a team competition and Wheeler says: "We have to come up with a package and a venue which is going to make it more appealing to club members.

"It's something we have been putting our minds to at Hampshire PGA and next year I think you will see a new-look event at a different venue."

Six-times Hampshire Open champion Bland welcomed the chance to play on some southern Spanish courses because it will be there at the end of March that he will begin his third season on the European Challenge Tour.

The man from Marchwood who last year finished 11th in the Scottish PGA Championships at Gleneagles, has purposely given the two early-season Challenge Tour events in Africa a miss.

He has suffered illness problems there in the past, so debilitating one year that it affected his form for virtually half a season.

Bland has worked hard at physical fitness during the winter, religiously checking into a local gym every morning to keep his body weight down and tone up muscle for the new season.

The Stoneham clubman has again succeeded in getting some sponsorship for the new season and plans also to play in the UK-based Players Tour in which each event has a £250 entry fee but an attractive purse to the winner of around £10,000.

Last time he played in a UK-based series, the Mastercard Tour three years ago, Bland won it.

But at 27 he knows he should be breaking on to main Volvo European Tour, and that remains his major aim for 2001.