IF Jack Nicklaus lends his name to a golf course, you can almost be sure it will be a course of high repute.

In recent years the player who carved out a reputation as the best the game has ever seen has built an equally acclaimed reputation as golf architect.

It was, therefore, while not altogether surprising, somewhat reassuring to hear yesterday that Nicklaus would be overseeing design of the golf complex to be developed at what was formerly the Southampton Naval Annex.

The Golden Bear, via video tape, told the assembled gathering at a Hamilton Princess press conference: "I think the time has come for Bermuda to have a world-class championship-length golf course, and by combining the resources of Nicklaus Design, Renaissance and Bermuda Land Development Company, I am confident that we can achieve wonderful results.

"I just wanted to let you know that my staff and I are committed to this project, and I can assure you that the final product will be a golf course of which we can all be proud.'' That may be comforting to the many cynics who have questioned BLDC's choice of developer for this particular site.

It's no secret that those who supported or were involved in rival bids for this contract believed theirs was a far superior proposal to that of Morgan's Harbour Investment Management (the umbrella under which the Nicklaus/Renaissance group falls).

That, in itself, is hardly surprising. Any group investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparation of a scheme that would never see the light of day, would feel similarly aggrieved.

Yet, that said, the Nicklaus connection raises more questions than it answers.

At least two of the rival groups, one known as BEAM, whose proposal included a course drawn up by world-renowned designer Tom Fazio and a commitment from three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo as touring pro, and another known as King's Point Land Company, who had contracted golf legend Arnold Palmer as designer, are known to be incensed by BLDC's final choice.

Sour grapes? Perhaps.

But their ire runs much deeper.

Suggestions that the goalposts have been moved to accommodate Nicklaus and co.

aren't entirely without foundation.

Indeed, at BLDC's own admission, Nicklaus wasn't even brought aboard the Renaissance-backed group until mid-January this year -- a full four months after all of the respective bidders had been asked to submit their final proposals, and even after the short-list of two had been reduced to one.

In fact, Nicklaus had initially been connected to a development drawn up by a group involving local lawyer Tim Marshall -- one of the four rejected.

If what is eventually to be built on the former baselands is a Nicklaus course, then nobody at BLDC was to have known that when they reached their final decision over the choice of developer -- simply because Nicklaus hadn't at that time made a commitment to the Renaissance group.

That, in itself, raises some serious questions.

BLDC chairman Vince Ingham told yesterday's press conference that on the submission of final tenders last September "none of the five potential developers had a firm commitment from all of the players.'' But that statement was last night hotly-contested by representatives from both BEAM and King's Point. Fazio and Palmer, they claim, were both fully committed.

Rob Davies, managing director of Renaissance, told reporters yesterday there had been "no prohibition preventing a team from rebuilding once the procedure went past the first stage. Indeed there was encouragement.

"We had the British PGA develop our first lay-out which formed part of the strategic plan which you see here. There has been no fundamental reshaping of the plan.'' Yet later, he said: "Since the arrival of Jack Nicklaus the lay-out of this course has been fundamentally reworked.'' Well, either the plan has been fundamentally changed or it hasn't.

And if it has, how can a fair judgment have been made on all of the proposals when their final plans were submitted last August.

Nicklaus, we are told, won't put his name to a course which isn't of the highest standard.

But it's interesting, on paper at least, that "his'' design apparently fails to utilise the natural attributes of the Southampton annex in the same way as did both Fazio and Palmer.

One wonders whether a different course would be in the making had he been on board with Renaissance from the beginning rather than as an after thought.

And one must continue to wonder how a decision so crucial to Bermuda's tourism future was arrived at based on a tender that, at submission, was clearly incomplete.

JACK NICKLAUS -- the Golden Bear was yesterday confirmed as a late addition to the group who will develop a golf course on the former baselands at the Southampton Naval Annex.