Premier Ewart Brown is scheduled to meet with United States Professional Golf Association (USPGA) officials at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia this week for negotiations which could see the PGA Grand Slam of Golf remain in Bermuda for at least another two years, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The Slam, which sees the winners of golf's four majors compete in a 36-hole showdown, will take place at Mid Ocean Club for a second time later this year, having made its debut here last October.

Now, if negotiations are successful, the televised tournament could remain in Bermuda until at least 2010 and could even be moved to Port Royal when renovations of the Government-owned course are completed.

Brown could not be reached for comment yesterday. But last year he told this newspaper: "Before coming to Bermuda this year (2007), the Grand Slam of Golf had never been played outside the United States. Now it will be two consecutive years outside of the US, we hope to keep the PGA coming here for many, many years.

"We're delighted the PGA Grand Slam of Golf is coming back to Bermuda. Its first visit created a lot of excitement and produced an overwhelmingly positive impact on our tourism product.

"We're looking foward to doing it all over again, and doing it even better than last time."

PGA of America president, Brian Whitcomb said: "The island of Bermuda is not only one of the more beautiful places in the world, but it also displayed unmatched hospitality as the first site outside North America to host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf."

Argentine Angel Cabrera defeated 2007 British Open champion Padraig Harrington in a play-off at Mid Ocean Club last year in an event that proved to be a smashing hit among local golf fans.

Government have already drawn up a multi-million dollar strategic plan aimed at transforming the Island into a top golf tourist destination, with an estimated $13.7 million having already been allocated for major renovations at Port Royal.

The Southampton golf facility is currently being upgraded to meet US PGA Championship standards and may now be considered as a serious contender to host future Grand Slam of Golf events when it reopens early next year.

World-renowned consultant, Roddy Carr, who was influential in having the PGA Grand Slam of Golf move to Bermuda, was recently on the Island to assess the progress being made at Port Royal.

"I'm absolutely astounded! There are 15 holes completely reshaped already. The drainage is done, the greens and bunkers are done and so the project is ahead of schedule and on budget and we expect it to finish that way," Carr said.

"We have strengthened 12 holes by 50 percent and so you have a huge degree of improvement in the golf course in terms of the overall product.

"It's a massive job and a complete makeover. There's ten million gallons of water in four different lakes which are all highly strategic."

Port Royal was originally designed by renowned course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr and opened to the public in 1970.

"The actual characteristics of the golf course, even though we have retained the original design, have been enhanced greatly into the modern day championship standard," Carr added.

"There's a much greater feeling of grandeur to the golf course and we've managed to get the yardage up to 6,800 yards.

"We've certainly improved the quality and degree of difficulty of the golf course to bring it up to what I would call a PGA standard. And the objective obviously would be to get the golf course prepared hopefully for a PGA Grand Slam going forward if Bermuda can retain the contract."

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Augusta this week where the eventual winner of this year's Masters will be the first qualifier for this year's Grand Slam of Golf championship at Mid Ocean Club in October.