CADDIE'S ROLE: Bermuda is an idyllic backdrop for the annual champion of champions event

THE GRAND Slam of Golf is an elitist little event originally designed to get the four major winners of the year together for an end-of-year jamboree. Until last year it was played on the holiday island of Kaua'i in Hawaii. Last year the event shifted east to another holiday destination in Bermuda. For those of us travelling from Europe it is a way more accessible but also equally as picturesque a location in which to contest this champion of champions event.

We approached Hamilton International Airport at dusk, gliding in over the obligatory white-roofed houses packed in tightly to this confined sub-tropical island. The coves on the flight path were a deeper blue than colour-enhanced brochures advertising tropical holiday destinations. When we landed we became instantly aware the runway stretches from one side of the island to the other off the northern tip of the mainland. Bermuda is not a wide island.

We descended the plane and the warm evening air embraced us like a real holiday island should. The link between the past and present at Bermuda's international airport was a fresh coat of salmon-coloured paint on the understated terminal walls. There was no need for upgrading here, it seemed, as the soft evening music of the welcoming quartet calmed the anxious immigration line.

"You don't plan to stay here for more than a year," the relaxed and polite immigration official asked me. My swift response was "sadly just a week's stay," but I thought a six-month stint here would really get the heart rate back down to mild and mellow.

The Grand Slam is for major winners, yet only two of this year's major winners are playing. That is because Tiger Woods is still in convalescence and Padraig Harrington won two of them, which left the tournament organisers, the PGA of America, two players shy of their quota.

In the event of a shortfall, the PGA have their own points system whereby past major champions have their own major order of merit from this year. In other words, if you have had some consistently decent finishes in the majors this year you qualify to take up the slack in the Grand Slam. Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen headed that list but Phil declined the invite to play which left Jim Furyk next in line.

There is a decided touch of the past here in this British colony and that is manifested nowhere more clearly than in the peculiar dress sense of the local men. If Jean Paul Gaultier had set this odd trend they have of wearing a classic blazer, flannelled light coloured shorts and accompanying colonial long dark socks, and sent his models down a Paris cat-walk it would probably be lauded as de rigeur couteur. But to see this dated style on overweight, aged men in something of a time-warp is quite amusing.

From a caddies' perspective this is an event you are extremely happy to attend. Not only does it signify that your player has had a pretty good year but it also gives you the opportunity to enjoy the frills of success. From the moment you land you become instantly aware you are very welcome and you are invited to enjoy the luxuries of the five-star resort that accommodates you.

Despite the beach being a stumble downhill from the Fairmont Southampton hotel there was a shuttle bus to whisk guests down to the pure white-sanded beach.

The facilities at the shore although excellent were coupled with the inimitable casual local touch. I went into the small amenities shop by the beach and another hotel guest asked about the opening hours . "Are you open all day every day?" she asked, to which the very laid-back attendant replied, "Sometimes."

The welcoming party for the Grand Slam guests and players was held on Sunday night. We congregated at the Ocean Club to the hospitable sound of waves lapping at the shore and the steel drums of the resident band.

Joe Steranka of the PGA interrupted the cocktail chatter with a formal welcome from the stage. He was facing the idyllic East Whale Bay and describing how beautiful the scene was to us guests who had our backs to it. He then handed us over to Bermuda's Premier Dr Ewart Brown.

The Premier suggested that Joe may have a job for the Bermuda tourist board. His timing was not good. A large rodent scurried across the roof of the cabana behind the stage and made a jump for the fencing surrounding the tennis courts behind him. The scene that Joe described had been sullied by the furry gate-crasher's untimely assault on the tennis courts.

Life is not perfect in Bermuda but it comes pretty close to it if you are looking the right way across the north Atlantic.