SOUTH African will send a team of two to the 5th World Scrabble Championships. This year’s tournament will be held in the Carlton Crest Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, from 3-7 November 1999. There will be 92 participants from almost 40 countries. The best-of-five final will be held on Sunday November 7, with the game broadcast on closed-circuit television to the remaining players and the public, and the moves displayed on a giant board. First prize is $15000, which would come in handy to SA’s team of Steven Gruzd (27) and Dylan Early (29). Gruzd is a researcher and Dylan is a training consultant. Both come from Johannesburg. Gruzd has been down this road before, in 1993, 1995, and 1997, while Early will be experiencing the high-level pressure for the first time. Gruzd managed a sixth place for $800 in 1995, and hopes to repeat.