WITH the Mid Ocean Club successfully finishing up as host of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf on Wednesday all eyes now shift to Port Royal Golf Course which will host the annual event for 2009 and 2010.

And the Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed layout will have much to live up to.

So said David Ezekiel ¿ Mid Ocean Club's captain and the general chairman of the Grand Slam of Golf for the past two years which has seen the likes of Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Retief Goosen and Zach Johnson test themselves on the Charles Blair Macdonald designed course which was built in 1921. Port Royal is currently undergoing an extensive $13 million revamp and is expected to be open in January next year with new greens and a longer layout. But that will give the course only one growing season in which to get ready to host the champions of the Masters, US Open, Open and PGA Championship.

And being that Port Royal is a public course, there could be some questions about how much it will be used by locals and visitors leading up to next October in order for the course to grow in properly ¿ especially the new TifEagle greens.

Premier Dr. Ewart Brown also noted how high Mid Ocean set the bar for the annual event which is shown all around the world on TV when he said this week: "My hat is off to the members and staff at the Mid Ocean Club. Last year, and once again this year, they've shown Bermuda and the world they can handle a top-notch golf event with expert precision. From the course maintenance to the hospitality to the volunteer effort ¿ they have set the bar extremely high."

Ezekiel said that Port Royal will face some tough challenges to get ready for next October. And he vowed to give all the help he could. "We will definitely support whoever takes it on at Port Royal next year. I will give them my action lists and tell them pitfalls and what they have to look out for. It is going to be a huge job up there because the club has been in a bit of a limbo while the course is being redone. Right now they do not have the resources that we had in terms of a very strong member base. So whoever takes on the job as general chair is going to have his work cut out for him."

Ezekiel said one of the big challenges will be getting the greens ready for the tournament after only one growing season. "From what I hear they are putting in TifEagle which is what we have at Mid Ocean and it will be a challenge of getting them ready. I imagine the fairways will be grown in by then but when you are constructing entirely new greens it is always going to be a challenge ¿ to see how they turn out. Quite often they play well for the first couple of weeks ¿ but it is finding out how the greens are going to react after a long-term basis and that is the problem.

"Everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed for the greens to turn out (right) ¿ it is the tricky situation.

"They have pretty much gone back to square one at Port Royal ¿ they have dug up the whole thing and replaced it. And from I hear it is going to be very nice ¿ the changes on 12, 13 and 14 are going to be very good and it will be a challenge for any player. Mid Ocean set the standard (at the Grand Slam) and put Bermuda on the map and hopefully we will continue to see something really good up there at Port Royal."

Being that Port Royal is a public course, Ezekiel said it will be interesting to see how much they allow it to be used next year leading up to the Grand Slam.

"It is a public course ¿ a course where a player can just call up and book and play ¿ that is going to be interesting. By all accounts they have some very good guys up there overseeing (the rebuilding) but they are going to have to watch it very closely. To host a major tournament in your first season you are going to have to have a game plan for restricting play in the run-up to the tournament depending on what they see coming up on the fairways and greens. The greensmen and groundsmen are going to have to keep a close eye on it. It is going to be interesting to see (how they manage it). But it is nice to show the TV viewers out there that there is more than one golf course in Bermuda. But Mid Ocean is going to be a very tough act to follow."

Ezekiel said another major challenge ¿ one he called the "biggest challenge of all" ¿ will be getting all the volunteers needed to run the tournament. And by that he didn't limit it to the volunteers of the actual days of play.

"That is going to be another huge challenge. We had 250 people volunteering for the tournament this year and most were Mid Ocean members. The Port Royal membership is effectively a very small one (right now). At Mid Ocean we have a very active membership so from my point of view (as general chairman) getting the volunteers was really helped along by the fact that we had this pool of willing members ready to step up.

"We had 20 committees so you need 20 very committed chairpersons ¿ we had an 12-strong executive committee. You have to have committees for everything ¿ from transportation to rope and stakes, carts, food, clubhouse, history ¿ so many things. You need some very strong chairpersons who will build up and develop their own committees and then keep them going. The bonus is that the PGA of America is really good to work with ¿ they really know what they are doing and that mades life a lot easier."

Ezekiel has a special place in his heart for Port Royal since it is the course where he first learned the game.

"I used to be president at Port Royal. I learnt my golf there ¿ I spent all my early years playing at Port Royal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I have a special love for the course. I think back to the days when I was a high handicapper and getting out there on Sundays for the medals so I love the course and love the people up there. There was always an enthusiastic group there. Now a lot will depend on how the club reforms once the course reopens in January or February. It will be interesting to see how strong the club comes back because if they get a really good renewal (of membership) for the club ¿ people who are allowed to make the club their own so to speak ¿ then they will want to step up to help out for the Grand Slam ¿ and you really you need those kind of people."

And the course is different than Mid Ocean.

While some may say that Port Royal is tighter, Ezekiel disagreed and said: "I don't think it is as tight as Mid Ocean in terms of driving. But they are also lengthening the course as well. It has always been a difficult test of golf. People have a hard time scoring there and a few holes are really exposed to the wind ¿ holes like seven and eight as well as 15 and 16. They have a tough par five at number two and I hear they have done great things to 17 and have brought the water around in front (of the green) so you just can't hit and hope for your second shot. From what I have heard there have been really great improvements to the course. And also that Robert Trent Jones design is very strong and of course you can never get over the views. Very, very beautiful."

Of the just completed Grand Slam this week, Ezekiel said things couldn't have gone better.

"It was fantastic ¿ I could not have been more pleased. I am very grateful for the weather. When you think that you have six days over two years we really seemed to catch the weather at its peak and that was incredibly gratifying because the weather is one thing you cannot control. When you think of all the work you do to make the course look great and then it pours down there is nothing you can do so we were blessed with the weather we had."

And the players loved it, said Ezekiel. "I did however feel a bit sorry for Padraig (Harrington) who lost in a playoff for the second year in a row. But (winner) Jim Furyk really supported the tournament well for the past two years ¿ he was tremendous to be with this week and he was a lot more relaxed than he was last year (when he literally flew into Bermuda from South Korea and teed it up). But Padraig is a class act ¿ he took it (the loss) very well."

And while the crowds were down a bit on the first day, they certainly turned up on Wednesday ¿ the second day.

"We had a great crowd on the last day ¿ double the size on the Tuesday. It was a fantastic job by everyone and the PGA were thrilled to death. We had a lot more fans coming out in Bermuda than they had when the tournament was staged in Hawaii where you could count them in the hundreds.

"Yesterday (Wednesday) you saw more and more people coming out especially as the day wore on. When you see an event like this it seems you are looking at the course for the first time ¿ it is a dream golf course and the greens were fantastic."

Kim Swan, the only Bermudian to play on the European Tour, said he is very happy that Port Royal will be hosting the next two PGA Grand Slam of Golf tournaments.

He said yesterday: "For Port Royal ¿ a public course ¿ to host an international event of great prominence will elevate its modern day stature. The course long endured a favourable international rating as a world ranked public golf course designed by world renown Robert Trent Jones Sr.

"Ironically, the redevelopment is being carried out by Roger Rullewich ¿ who while working for Robert Trent Jones Sr.¿ did the work in designing both Port Royal and St.George's.

"Port Royal will present a different test to that of Mid Ocean but will be challenging in its own right as it has a unique flow that uses the natural topography and is enhanced by the ever-present influence of the wind. I look forward to seeing the finished product but have been impressed by what I have seen from the unofficial glimpses I have had at some of the holes."

Swan won three Bermuda Opens ¿ all at Port Royal ¿ and said Government needs to keep in mind the affordability of Port Royal for Bermuda residents.

He said: "It needs to be mindful of the decreasing availability of public daily fee golf at this time. It is not unreasonable to expect Port Royal rates to rise and reflect the capital injection the Government has put into this public facility.

"I liken it to the upgrades of Bethpage State Park 'Black' Golf Course which was transformed to host the US Open. Fortunately, indications are that Government may follow suit and make special affordable rates available for Bermuda residents ¿ in the same way New York does for its residents looking to play a public golf course at a reasonable rate."

Of not having the course overplayed in the lead-up to next year's Grand Slam, Swan said: "The readiness of the course and the preparations required to have it ready for 2009 and the usage in 2009 are management decisions which can only be made once the course redevelopment is complete and suitable assessments made by the course management and their advisors."

Another Bermuda professional golfer, Brian Morris who was head of the BPGA and also the former head pro at Belmont Hills, said Government and Port Royal will have to be careful of how much golf is played once Port Royal opens again early next year.

"It will be great at Port Royal. The (revamped) course is set to open in January so they will have one good growing season to get everything done and I think it will be an excellent test for these guys. But the people at Port Royal have to be careful. You do not want too much play on the course in that first year because it will set you back."

Morris was at Belmont Hills when that course was reopened after extensive renovation, and said: "We probably allowed a bit too much golf to be played early on and that set us back a bit. That is what you have to be careful of."

Asked whether he thought Port Royal was tougher than Mid Ocean, Morris said: "I think that Port Royal will be an even stiffer test than Mid Ocean for the (Grand Slam) players. Personally I think it is a tighter course ¿ but both are great courses and will really test these guys."