The Grand Slam was great but an opportunity was missed

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21: I attended two out of the three days of the Grand Slam this year and it was again a huge success in terms of showing off the island on a world stage.

I however again feel that we missed the opportunity to make it more than a four hour advertorial for Port Royal and Bermuda.

Here are my suggestions for what will probably be the final year next year.

1. Create a legacy of the Grand Slam, we should have introduced the game to more juniors, by giving all public schools a half day to watch some of the Grand Slam and then giving them a chance to hit a few balls on the range. I saw very few juniors there, one or two classes at most.

2. Have more to do, with only one group on the course, there was simply not much to watch or do. Having some free coaching, demo club opportunities etc.

3. Maybe add a few extra groups on the course, top four juniors, ladies, local pros, seniors. Would create some interest on the course and given an opportunity for those not to walk somewhere to stop and wait.

4. Maybe move some of the action to Ocean View, a clinic or play a few holes at a facility that all parts of the community could have access to in the future. Remember playing Port Royal is out of most Bermudian’s budget.

I was seriously impressed by the social functions especially the event on Tuesday night.

The four major champions sat down and reflected on their year at the Champions’ Dinner Celebration, this was truly inspirational.

I wanted to go and practice there and then.

If we could get some kids watching that at school, I think we might get a Bermudian major winner.

It was awesome to see Charl Swartzel wearing the green jacket, and Darren Clarke actually bought the Open Championship trophy with him and allowed people to get their picture taken with it, which was awesome

Darren is a true star and we are very lucky that he came and am reliably told that he was equally enamoured by the Bermuda and is staying on for an extra week.

On the whole, the Grand Slam is a fantastic tournament, that was visionary to bring to Bermuda, and was brilliantly executed by all of the team at Port Royal, and we all should thank them for putting us on the map.

It would be great to see more kids there next year, especially if it is the last year.

We don’t get that many big sporting events here and it seems a waste that more people did not see it. n

Paul Adams is the PGA director of golf at Rosewood Tucker’s Point.