Former Mid Ocean Golf Club president Michael Dunkley has voiced doubts over last week?s announcement that the deal to bring the Grand Slam of Golf to Bermuda is all-but sealed.

And the Opposition Deputy Leader accused former Tourism Minister Ewart Brown of ?political grandstanding? ? pointing out that the press conference unveiling the plan to host the four Grand Slam winners here for a made-for-television spectacular next year came only 24 hours before announcing his intention to challenge for the leadership of the PLP.

Brown said last week that the Department of Tourism were in ?the final stages of negotiations? with the United States Professional Golf Association (USPGA).

He added that they had already agreed to put up $1.5 million for the event ? which is broadcast live on TNT ? and at that price, he argued, Bermuda would be benefiting from significant worldwide exposure at a reasonable price.

But when contacted last week, the USPGA remained tight-lipped, refusing to confirm or deny whether they had decided to move the 36-hole showdown between the winners of the Open, the US Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship away from Hawaii ? its home for the last 11 years.

An announcement is expected during this year?s event, to be held next month at the Poipu Bay Golf Course on the island of Kauai.

?Bringing an event of that magnitude to Bermuda would be a great thing ? but my real concern is that Ewart Brown has jumped the gun because it suited him politically to do so,? said Dunkley, who as chairman of the golf committee at Mid Ocean in the late 1990s was responsible for running both the Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out and the Gillette Tour Challenge Championship.

?In my opinion it was no coincidence that he chose to make the announcement the day before he was going to resign from the Cabinet and mount a bid for the leadership. It made him look like a man of action, but there?s a very real danger that the announcement was made prematurely.

?There?s no doubt that he caught the board at Mid Ocean off guard ? he only let them know he was going to make the plan public on the morning before the press conference, which meant they only had a few hours to send a letter round to the entire membership making them aware of what was going on.

?The way the situation has been portrayed by him, though, is that we?re almost guaranteed to get it. But as I?ve learnt from experience in business and through my previous dealings with the PGA, nothing is a done deal until the ink is dry on the contract and I?m not convinced we?re as close to sealing it as Ewart Brown would have us believe.?

Dunkley?s view was backed up by Mid Ocean vice-president David Ezekiel, who yesterday confirmed that a draft contract with the USPGA ? which the two have been haggling over in private for more than two months ? is now on the table.

But as he did in a letter to the membership last week, Ezekiel took a far more cautious line on the present status of the negotiations, insisting the competition to host next year?s Grand Slam was still wide open.

However, Ezekiel?s comments directly contradicted those of Mid Ocean general manager Bryan Mewett, who told last week that as far as he knew, it was ?just a matter of dotting the i?s and crossing the t?s.?

?We had been negotiating with the USPGA for some time, but Dr. Brown?s decision to announce the plan was certainly unexpected,? Ezekiel said.

?And as I mentioned in my letter to the membership I think on two occasions, we?re being very cautious because as far as we are concerned we?re not close to signing an agreement at the moment.

?We have reached an agreement with them in terms of the draft contract, and now it remains to be seen whether they decide to bring the Grand Slam of Golf to Bermuda.

?We have an understanding with them as to how things would work if they decide that Bermuda should host it, but at present that?s as far as it goes.?

Asked whether he thought Brown had ?jumped the gun? last week, Ezekiel was more guarded.

?I don?t know ? maybe they are more certain at the Department of Tourism that this will move to a positive conclusion,? he said.

?But there have been mixed messages in the press. It appears as if Hawaii believe they have it for another year, and there has been no official word from the PGA as of yet.

?We have done our part and we have addressed the concerns of our board and of our membership. We?re obviously hoping that the event will be held at Mid Ocean next year, but it is definitely not a certainty.?

Dunkley, meanwhile, pointed out that although the Department of Tourism had agreed to stump up $1.5 million to host the event, the overall cost would be much higher than that ? a detail Brown omitted to mention.

?There are certainly a lot of questions here that still need to be answered,? he said.

?In his statement it was implied that the $1.5 million was the only cost but as I know from experience, there are plenty of other expenses that we could be expected to cover, including TV rights and what is known as a ?site fee? which is payable to the PGA just for the privilege of hosting the tournament.

?We would need to know more about the overall costs as this situation moves forward. But don?t get me wrong. If we were able to host the tournament it would be terrific for us and I am broadly supportive of the efforts to bring it here. It would be a very good fit for us in terms of the exposure it would give the Island and our golf courses.

?But the fact that Dr. Brown made the announcement when he did ? and then tried to convince us that the deal was almost a certainty and it was just a matter of tying up loose ends ? strikes me as being very suspicious.?