its title sponsor and organiser announced yesterday.

And a television special is slated to showcase the Island to millions of people after it is aired in Bermuda first.

ACE Insurance Company Ltd. CEO Brian Duperrault and Canadian Connection president Tom Godber made the statement at the conclusion of the tournament which raised a total of $242,700 that will be split evenly between the Council Partners Charitable Trust and the Catalog for Giving.

Between them, the two charities -- based in Bermuda and New York respectively -- fund 19 separate programmes.

Mr. Duperrault said: "There has never been an event like this before in Bermuda.

"We have all been impressed by Samuel Jackson's energetic commitment, the sincere enthusiasm of his friends and the invaluable cooperation and assistance from the hundreds of volunteers who helped make the Celebrity Golf classic a reality.'' Mr. Godber said he was looking ahead to next year already and planned to make it more successful.

"This has been a successful event because Bermuda made it so. We now have a very large resource of trained volunteers to call upon for next year's Classic, which we expect to be even better than this year's.

"We'll be looking at moving the date of the tournament so that there is no conflict with the Cannes Film Festival.'' The Festival meant that one of the invited stars, Angela Bassett, could not attend as she had been invited to be a judge at the Festival. Another invitee, Will Smith, also failed to show. Organisers said he was tied up shooting a movie in New York. He was also one of the celebrities at a rival golf tournament which started in Key Biscayne, Florida, yesterday.

Mr. Godber added: "We're now putting together the television special on the tournament that will showcase Bermuda to millions of viewers.

"However, before launching into the international programming, we'll make sure that the feature is aired in Bermuda so that everyone here can get a sense of what a great event this has been.'' Mr. Jackson thanked the sponsors and volunteers before paying tribute to the other stars in the tournament.

He said: "I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends.''