This week's PGA Grand Slam of Golf was an unqualified success.

Ernie Els said so. Graeme McDonnell concurred.

David Toms and Martin Kaymer both want to come back.

The syrupy commentators of the TNT network, who televised every hole, were falling over themselves to heap on the praise.

Will the tournament be back? We don't know.

But everybody involved in the Port Royal event wants it to return.

In fact, plaudits poured in from every corner.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the crowd.

At the entrance to Port Royal on Tuesday and Wednesday there was little more than a trickle rather than a downpour.

It's hard to understand, even when major sporting events in Bermuda take place in midweek, Bermudians as a whole don't show a lot of interest.

Perhaps on this occasion, the fact that the tournament was shown on TV in early evening just after the event had finished, might have accounted for the disappointing attendance.

It was poor on the first day and only slightly better on the second.

The TV screen, of course, showed hundreds gathered around the 16th hole, the most spectacular on the course – and according to the players it was such a distraction it made it difficult to swing a club – and on the 18th where the tournament finished.

But on both days on certain other holes, it seemed there were more volunteers, marshalls, officials, TV crew cameramen, sound engineers, players and caddies, than there were spectators.

The fact that the price of one day tickets were slashed from $50 this year to $20, and that many schoolchildren were allowed to watch for free, made little difference.

On Saturday and Sunday evenings in Bermuda, golf fans watch PGA Tour events week in and week out but put the same events on their doorstep, they show little interest.

Tuesday and Wednesday are difficult days for many employees to take a day off, but there are plenty who could make alternative arrangements.

Take the number of volunteers required to ensure the Grand Slam is run smoothly, many of them ordinary working people, there's no reason why others couldn't make the trip out to Southampton.

It's a Bermuda malaise which is seen so often.

Put on a tennis tournament, such as the XL Classic, and for most of the week the bleachers are empty. Same in the stands at the National Sports Centre whenever an overseas football team are brought in or when the Hogges play in a professional league – the first local team to do so.

When Bermuda's cricket team play other ICC Association countries, locals are quite happy to stay at home – and are the first to cricitcise when the team get beaten, rather than offer their support.

But getting back to the Slam, it's strange that the couch potatoes who watch every minute of the majors — the Masters, the US Open, The British Open and the PGA Championships on TV – and can get the best seat in the house when the winners of those events fly into Bermuda, can't be bothered to cheer on the same golfers who are just a stone's throw away.

This week's Slam champion, Ernie Els, is followed by huge galleries wherever he plays. Along with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the three-time majors champion is a genuine golf superstar.

But put him on a course where spectators can get close and personal, and only a few hundred turn up to watch.

Diplomatically, Els praised the 'enormous support' that he and Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and David Toms, received.

They described the condition of the course and world class greens exceptional, but was probably surprised by the spectator turn-out, although would never say so.

And the TV commentators couldn't say enough about the crowd, ignoring the fact that their cameras continually focused on the areas where the spectators had gathered for the best vantage points.

It says much about Bermuda when more locals line the streets to watch the May 24 Derby or flock to Somerset and St. George's for Cup Match than they do for world class events such as this.

They moan when those in our national sports don't perform. But put the best in the world from other countries right in front of them, and they show little interest.

It may also explain why so many sportsmen on this Island prefer to play for their clubs rather than their country.