2008 US Senior Open Champion Eduardo Romero and developer Platinum Grupo Brazil have announced a deal that will see Romero, known as 'El Gato,' designing a number of signature courses in Brazil.

Platinum has already opened residential developments in Turkey and Morocco, but chairman Mike Davies sees his longterm future in Brazil. "With a strong economy, rich reserves of natural resources and a stable and progressive government, I'm confident our activity there will generate outstanding returns for the company and our investors," he said. "I'm focused on building super premium resorts around high quality golf courses so I needed the support of a world-class golfer and Eduardo was always top of my list. As well as being in superb form on the Champions Tour, he's such a great guy and has a wonderful reputation around the world, and especially in Latin America. We share the same vision and values and I'm sure it will be an enjoyable and highly productive partnership. I'm absolutely delighted he's accepted our offer."

Romero said: "Our first project is likely to be on a spectacular oceanfront site and I'll be working with UK-based architect Jonathan Gaunt to deliver something very special. I can't wait to get started and for sure I'll take a villa on the development and look forward to many happy holidays there with family and friends."

Davies concluded: "Platinum Grupo Brazil is committed to sustainable development. It is essential to my company's philosophy that we contribute long-term to the communities surrounding our developments. We'll provide training and employment for hundreds of local people and we'll also provide funding for building schools, health centres and other essential infrastructure. Finally we're working closely with Brazilian and local authorities to comply with the most stringent environmental standards."

This article first appeared in issue 15 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2009.