A little more than a month after its grand reveal just across the road from the R&A Clubhouse in St. Andrews, a statue honouring Old Tom Morris appears to have been vandalised.
St. Andrews historian Roger McStravick reported the disappointing news Saturday morning on social media.
Gutted to say that the Tom Morris statue in St Andrews was vandalised last night. They snapped the clubbed off. See pics. Needless to say we are looking at all CCTV cameras including the R&A to see if the perpetrators have been caught in the act.
If anyone has any information or… pic.twitter.com/EsU7ELB2Jy— roger mcstravick (@R_McStravick) November 9, 2024
Thankfully, it would seem the only real damage was the breaking of the clubhead in Morris’ hand.
McStravik was among the dignitaries present Oct. 2 when the statue was dedicated in the memory of the man who the Open Championship four times while serving as the famed golf professional at St. Andrews. The statue was positioned in a seemingly perfect spot, Morris’ figure able to gaze at the golfers coming up the 18th hole on the Old Course, the location of his former golf shop in is visage.
“The sculpture has a lovely finish to it,” McStravick noted on the day of the dedication, which coincided with the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship being held at the old course. “It fits. And it feels like Old Tom has come home.”
Guest who attended the statue’s dedication ceremony Oct. 2 included former Open winner Sandy Lyle, project chairman Ronald Stanford, Morris’ great, great granddaughter Sheila Walker, sculptor David Annand and historian Roger McStravick – David Cannon
The moment was important enough that former Open champion and Scottish golf great Sandy Lyle was in attendance. Also in attendance was Ronald Sandford, head of the Old Tom Statue Project Group, Sheila Walker, Morris’ great, great granddaughter, and Davis Annand, the sculptor.
The Old Tom Statue Project Group had been working on creating the memorial for Morris for nearly a decade. Sandford said that he came across a statue of Morris roughly 10 years earlier at Rosepenna in Donegal and upon returning to St. Andrews started to find locals interested in creating something similar at the Home of Golf.
It was not until 2019 that a firm plan emerged to have the statue in place in time for the 150th Open the following year. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans, but a paper written by Sandford meant the project moved from “bar chat” into the public domain. The Fife Council would eventually approve its placement on The Scores embankment late in 2023.
“This project has proved support from nerds like me who are into golf history,” McStravick said in 2023. “Heritage societies in America have been particularly enthusiast. Old Tom, of course, is something of a phenomenon. He died more than 100 years ago, but here we are still talking about him, almost as much as people did when he was alive. As golf was exploding in the late 19th century, he was seen as something of a guru. He was a remarkable man who designed or re-designed over 100 courses and was, at one time, the best golfer in the world.”
As McStravick said in his social media post, local authorities are using cameras in the area to see if they can find any leads as to who damaged the statue. It’s unclear if or when the statue might be fixed.
Main Image: @R_McStravick
