The PGA Grand Slam of Golf got under way with a swing yesterday as professionals, celebrities and politicians took to the fairways for an ace exhibition event.

Hundreds of spectators spent the day following three of the four major winners taking part in the Grand Slam around the Mid Ocean Club in brilliant sunshine.

The Pro-Am launched what Premier Ewart Brown has described as the biggest sporting event ever to come to Bermuda — and yesterday he declared that it had got off to a perfect start at the beachside course.

"It's all positive and upbeat," he told The Royal Gazette after playing in yesterday's 18-hole game. "It's just been a wonderful environment; something that Bermuda deserves."

David Charles, PGA Championship director, said: "It's been an absolutely spectacular day. It's been beautiful. The weather cooperated. Everybody who bought tickets came out. It's a great start to the Grand Slam."

He described organising such a massive event — some 6,000 tickets have been sold for the two-day tournament in Tucker's Town — as a "logistical challenge" but said Islanders could not have been more helpful.

"Nobody could be nicer," he said. "We are feeling the love. We have been embraced by the whole community: the Government, the people, the corporate market, everybody."

Out on the course, many fans picked a professional and followed them for the rest of the day, enjoying the chance to get seriously close to their sporting heroes.

Overseas visitor Craig Foster, 60, from New York, said: "It's a great event; you can't get as close at most tournaments as you can here."

The three major winners played with 12 groups of players, with corporate teams said to have paid thousands of dollars for the privilege of taking part.

Whatever the cost, Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington didn't disappoint their fans.

Although yesterday's Pro-Am was just a warm-up for the three golfers — who will be joined by fellow competitor Jim Furyk for the tournament today and tomorrow — the golf being played was still good enough to draw gasps of admiration from the crowds.

South American Cabrera, the 2007 US Open Champion, may not speak English but the man known in his home country as "El Pato" (the duck) was all smiles when he stopped at hole sixteen to sign caps, programmes and laminated passes.

Elsewhere on the course, onlookers got the chance to see Hollywood couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones tee off and scrutinise Premier Ewart Brown's golfing form. Dr. Brown said he thought he'd played well. "My game, I think, was what I expected. It was pretty good. I hit the ball well and I got a lot of great tips from the experts."

The Grand Slam has been played in Hawaii at the Poipu Bay Golf Course for the last 13 years. Mr. Charles said it was impossible to compare that location with Bermuda as they were so different. "It's a totally different event now it's here," he said. "Hawaii was great and Bermuda is great."

Certainly, uniquely Bermudian touches were everywhere to be seen yesterday, from the pink and blue buses passing by in the distance at hole fourteen to Cabinet Ministers wearing Bermuda shorts shooting the breeze under the shade of a palm tree.

And where else would you find a former Premier — in this case, David Saul — acting as a volunteer checking spectators' credentials? "I have been a golfing member of the Mid Ocean for 26 years and I've played once so I thought I should at least do something for my membership," he laughed.

Spectators from the Island and from overseas described their day in St. George's as well worth the ticket price. Simon Kent, 43, who travelled here from England, said: "We have seen Michael Douglas and his wife play and that was really good. The whole thing is very well run and there's a nice atmosphere. You can get nice and close without any problems."

Quaison Dey, 39, a Canadian who lives in Devonshire, said seeing golf legend Lee Elder play made his day. "He's a hero. People like him paved the way for Tiger Woods."