A romantic holiday, a successful golf trip and a brainstorming session between two lifelong friends was all it took for the Bermuda Golf Classic to become a reality.

April’s tournament, which involves National Football League players past and present, has been two years in the making, but has its roots in Utah nearly 40 years ago when five-year-old Brady Whittingham threatened to throw his slightly older neighbour, Clarence Hofheins, off his balcony.

The pair have been friends ever since and though Hofhein’s job in the hotel industry has taken him from place to place, that connection has remained.

Now the general manager at Cambridge Beaches Resort, Hofhein’s hosted his old friend and wife for their 20th wedding anniversary in September 2012 where the Whittingham’s “fell in love immediately with the Island”.

During the course of their stay the conversation turned to golf and the Bermuda Goodwill Tournament, and Whittingham returned the next year with a team from Riverside Country Club and won the event.

“There was no question, I’d never golfed anywhere that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed Bermuda,” Whittingham said.

He returned last year with more teams for the Goodwill, but also travelled to the Island for the final PGA Grand Slam and it was there that the Classic took shape.

The pair discussed the benefits that the Grand Slam had brought to the Island, and the opportunities that were available for keeping Bermuda relevant for people looking to take a golfing holiday.

“It was a casual discussion at the time,” Whittingham said. “We batted around the idea and my mind immediately turned to football, where I have a lot of connections.”

To describe Whittingham’s contacts within the NFL as “connections” is something of an understatement. The son of Fred Whittingham, the former NFL linebacker and Oakland Raiders coach, Brady’s brother Kyle is the head coach at the University of Utah.

The brainstorming, and the support the idea received both on and off the Island gave that “casual discussion” some impetus and initially the pair hoped to get enough interest for a dry run that would enable them to learn a few things for the years going forwards. It hasn’t turned out that way.

“As we started to hear from the players that have stepped forward to say ‘yes, we want to make this thing a reality’, it became clear that this year is expected to be as great an event as any long-term golf tournament that caters to the NFL and celebrities,” Whittingham said.

“We’re no longer looking at, can we get a handful of players to show up, we’re actually at the other end of the spectrum and wondering if we need to be a little bit more selective.”

Organisers do not expect the likes of Marshawn Lynch and Tom Brady to come this year, but in the years ahead they hope the Classic will attract marquee names that “will have the players that everyone would love to pay big money to play with.

“There is no doubt in my mind that in the coming years we are going to have to figure out how to handle a lot more players and be more selective with who plays in the public round and maybe let as many players who want to show up play in the NFL round on Friday,” Whittingham said.

A tournament for NFL players, the Classic is ultimately about two things; raising money for charity and driving people to the Island, for golf and tourism. Hofheins and Whittingham believe the event can fill the gap left by the Grand Slam and the exposure that brought to Bermuda.

“Its not only about getting exposure for the Island, but more importantly getting people who will fly in for the event,” Hofheins said. “We want this event to get on the map so it is something that players can look forward to in the future”

Organisers have already selected the two charities they hope will benefit from this year’s tournament, with money raised from the auction of memorabilia and other donated prizes going to the Coalition for the Protection of Children and the Bermuda Gymnastics Association.

“When we sat down to chose the charities, we wanted to pick two charities that really took care of children and teenagers, from boys and goals,” Hofheins said. “We wanted one charity that was not sports based, and one charity that was.”