The man who helped turn Port Royal Golf Course into a world class venue is leaving Bermuda to work on a new project with Greg Norman at a five-star resort in the Middle East.

After producing a course for this week's PGA Grand Slam that Graeme McDowell said would be good enough for a European Tour event, and Ernie Els praised as 'world class', Steve Johnson, Port Royal's Director of Agronomy, is moving to the Sultanate of Oman next month to work on the brand-new Wave resort in Muscat.

Johnson is leaving because there have been no guarantees from the Board Of Trustees regarding his future, and helping to develop The Wave resort from the ground up, which will include a 1500 berth marina, two five-star hotels, an 18-hole golf course, and six-hole Academy course, was too good an opportunity to miss.

"It's a big thing," said Johnson. "It's (the course) right at the ground roots, it's still shaping at the moment, sprigs may go down, grass may go down anywhere between the next two weeks and the next six weeks.

"They want it to eventually form part of the desert swing, which is the Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar, so they know what they want, they're looking to be part of that. So I'm going right in at the grassroots which is what I enjoy.

"A lot of the crew will be local, and most of those guys probably won't have worked with any form of grass before, so it'll be growing the golf course and crew from the ground up, which is what I have done in Bahrain, Hawaii, and to a certain extent Barbados. It's a challenge and something I'm really looking forward to."

Els was effusive with his praise for a course he constantly referred to as top-class, while McDowell told this newspaper on Wednesday that he thought Port Royal would be 'a great test for any European Tour event'.

"It's a really great challenge," said Els after his Grand Slam triumph. "I have to thank the greens staff for getting this golf course in such great condition. It's world standard. I've spoken to all the players, they're all very happy with the way the golf course was set up.

"I can't see any reason not to keep coming back here, I'll be coming back here."

Dennis Pilgrim, who has been shadowing Johnson since January is being tipped to take over, although the trustees have yet to make a final decision on the appointment.

"The Board is still finalising things like that, but we've had Dennis Pilgrim in place since January. He's been shadowing me. Whether they want to go that way, what the best direction for the golf course is, is up to the Board," said Johnson.

"When I first came to Bermuda to look at the project, which was September, 2008, the four goals were; grow in the golf course, train the staff up to an international recognised standard, produce the golf course for the Grand Slam, and the last thing was to create a succession policy.

"That had a late start, but there is potential there with Dennis."

Having been away from Australia for the past 17 years, Johnson is also hoping that working with Greg Norman will help him eventually get a job back in his homeland.

"This is probably the last big project that I want to do before I go back to Australia," he said. "It's a long-term contract, and being a Greg Norma design, I see it as an avenue to get back to Australia. I've been living abroad for 16, nearly 17 years.

"My brother's a superintendent back in Australia and he's been on the same golf course for 25 years, so there's not much movement in the industry in Australia because it's such a small industry.

"I've spent two years here, I've ticked a lot of boxes, it's an opportunity that came up. I'm a family man now , and this is a decision for the future."