There’s something about this time of year in the region that every golfer looks forward to. The heat eases, the fairways fill up again, and the season truly begins. It feels good to be back.

This issue carries extra meaning as Golf Digest celebrates its 75th anniversary. For more than seven decades, the magazine has told the game’s greatest stories and followed the journeys of its champions. To be part of that legacy here in the Middle East is something we’re proud of.

Fittingly, our cover features Jon Rahm. His swing may not be textbook, but it’s proof that there is no single way to succeed in this game. Rahmbo’s style is his own, and it’s already delivered two major championships.

In our “Where to Play” section, we highlight Regnum Carya in Belek, Turkey. It’s a rare blend of resort comfort and championship challenge, and the sort of course that makes you want to grab your clubs and your passport.

Closer to home, all eyes turn to Emirates Golf Club for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. It’s the pinnacle for the region’s amateurs, and this year players from the Middle East will be looking to seize their chance at history — and a place at Augusta National and The Open.

We also catch up with Dubai resident Tommy Fleetwood as he prepares for the first DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club, another reminder of how connected the game has become across continents.

Alongside the tour stories, you’ll find plenty of instruction from leading coaches and pros to help you sharpen your game as the season kicks off.

Wherever this month takes you — back to competition, onto the range, or planning a golf trip — I hope this issue gets you in the spirit for the season ahead.

See you out there.

All this and plenty more in the October 2025 edition of Golf Digest Middle East.

The issue is again free to our loyal audience. You can scroll through the ISSUU link provided here or download it to your favourite device for later. Alternatively, pick up a copy at your favourite golf club. Whatever option you take, we hope you enjoy the read.

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The Open Championship is coming back to St. Andrews in 2027.

“I’m looking forward to The Open’s return every bit as much as the fans and the players,” Darbon said in a press release, July 15-18 revealed as the specific dates. “There is something incredibly special about The Open being played on the Old Course and so many of the great champions have walked these fairways since the first staging here in 1873.”

This will mark the 31st time the legendary course will be hosting the championship—seven more than the next closest venue (Prestwick). The last came in 2022 when Cam Smith shot a closing 64 to win the claret jug in the historic 150th playing of golf’s oldest championship.

Of course, there are nostalgic reasons to play the Open so frequently at the Home of Golf. Many of the game’s all-time great players have won at St. Andrews, including J.H. Taylor, Peter Thomson, Bobby Locke, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

But there are financial considerations as well. A record-breaking 290,000 fans attended the Open in 2022, with the championship generating more than £300 million in economic benefit for Fife and Scotland, according to the R&A.

“The staging of the championship here in 2027 will have a significant and positive economic impact on the region,” said Business Minister Richard Lochhead. “We know from independent research that the last 10 Opens held in Scotland contributed a total of £1.36 billion to the economy.”

“St. Andrews is the home of golf and it generates a unique atmosphere for the fans and the players as well as providing an amazing spectacle on television and digitally for millions of viewers around the world,” Darbon said. “It promises to be another milestone occasion at one of sport’s greatest and most historic venues and we will be doing everything we can to make it a memorable experience for everyone involved.”

There is a unique historic footnote to St. Andrews hosting specifically in 2027: It marks 100 years since Bobby Jones won the Open at the Old Course as an amateur, pulling off a six-stroke victory in the second of three career Open wins for the famed amateur.

Topical Press Agency

The 2025 Open will be played in July at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, and the 2026 Open is scheduled for Royal Birkdale in England.

Main Image: GLYN KIRK

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As part of a now-annual tradition, the Old Course is once again giving golf history nuts a chance to turn back the clock with the Old Course Reversed. For three days in April (4/6 through 4/8), St. Andrews Links will open play on the Old Course with both the routing and holes played in reverse, and applications for golf’s most sacred pilgrimage are now open.

The 48 hour ballot for Old Course Reversed is now open

It's time for you and your group to apply for this unique
chance at playing the historic Old Course in both
directions.

The ballot closes at 9:00 a.m. GMT, December 11.https://t.co/HnPV7tZ90j pic.twitter.com/pMjNzK98xv

— St Andrews Links (@TheHomeofGolf) December 9, 2024

The package includes three rounds of golf—one on the Old Course as currently routed, one on the Old Course Reversed and one on The Castle Course—as well as a £60 food and drink credit, two 60-ball range buckets per round and an official Old Course Reversed gift. The package costs £750 per person, which comes out to a little over $950 USD. That’s a pretty good deal if you ask us, but there are two major caveats:

1. Applications to play the Old Course Reversed are only open for 48 hours, closing at 9 a.m. GMT on Wednesday, 12/11.

2. These are applications, which as anyone who has ever hunted for a job will tell you, guarantee you exactly nothing.

If you’re feeling lucky, get on the horn with your friends, family, co-workers—literally anyone will do. Packages are only available for groups of two to four and applications are due in less than 48 hours. You probably won’t get selected, let’s be honest, but you miss 100% of the greens you don’t go for.

Main Image: David Cannon

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Steve’s journey, marked by groundbreaking initiatives, leadership in golf education, and a passion for growing the game, now leads him to a rapidly evolving golfing hub: Saudi Arabia.

Now, as Steve embarks on his new journey as the Director of Academies for Golf Saudi, the scale of his work is to expand in a remarkable way. Golf Saudi is positioning itself as a transformative force in the global golf industry, and Steve is eager to play a central role in this bold new vision.

“In short, my new role will help promote the development of golf, including increasing participation, building internal/external coaching platforms, driving innovation and education throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” said Steve.

Kipp Popert competing in the Saudi Open – Golf Saudi

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plans for golf include the construction of over 40 golf academies across the Kingdom, each equipped with the latest coaching technologies. North’s role will be crucial in creating accessibility to golfers of all ages and skill levels.

“The Golf Saudi scale, vision and ambition are truly remarkable and part of my undertaking will be the design of 40+ facilities, naturally each will include a fantastic team, with the very latest state-of-the-art coaching/fitting technologies,” North stated.

“I am extremely excited to be joining an amazing team in Riyadh and look forward to hitting the ground running, very soon.”

Saudi Arabia’s sports landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation, and golf is at the heart of that evolution. With the backing of the Saudi government, the Saudi Golf Federation, and the ambitious Golf Saudi initiative, the country is investing heavily in both facilities and talent development. This vision is aimed at not only making golf accessible to Saudis but also positioning the Kingdom as a key player on the global golf stage.

Main Image: Steve North Facebook

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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

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One would think it is sacrilegious for any golfer to demean the par-4 17th Road Hole on the Old Course at St. Andrews—but for an accomplished Scottish tour professional to do so?

Robert MacIntyre, 28, has the credentials to render opinions on golf courses and golf holes anywhere; this year alone he’s won twice on the PGA Tour, the RBC Canadian Open and the Genesis Scottish Open.

Still, it is somewhat shocking to hear his disdain for one of golf’s most historic and iconic holes disparaged by anyone, much less a Scot.

“Blow it up,” McIntyre told the Scotsman on Sunday after the final round of the Dunhill Links Championship. “I don’t think there are many worse holes in world golf. I think it’s a terrible hole off the back tee. It doesn’t need to be modernised. To bring excitement it needs to be a hole you are able to hit a golf shot into and not one where you just hit it onto the green and try to get up and down.

“It almost plays like a par 5. They try to do things to this golf course that don’t need to be done. Today I rifled a drive off the tee and then a 4-iron and I was the furthest up the hole.”

MacIntyre made double bogey on the Road Hole Saturday during the third round and rebounded with a bogey Sunday in the final round. He shot 67-72-65-70 to tie for 25th place. Tyrrell Hatton birdied the 18th hole to shoot 70 and win the Dunhill Links for the third time. He topped Nicolas Colsaerts by a shot.

Main Image: Ross Parker – SNS Group

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The Englishman started his love affair with the event when he claimed his first title in 2016 before successfully defending his crown 12 months later, but a two under par round of 70 today earned him a spot in the history books.

“Pretty surreal to be honest,” said Hatton. “At the start of the week, the goal was to try to win the tournament. So, to be sitting here next to the trophy again, feels great, and relieved to get over the line. The last seven holes was pretty stressful.”

Up and down for victory @TyrrellHatton is the Alfred Dunhill Links Champion for a record third time! #dunhilllinks pic.twitter.com/RHNfnuvj4y

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 6, 2024

Hatton, now a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour, went toe-to-toe with Nicolas Colsaerts at the Old Course St Andrews before a closing birdie saw him reach 24 under and finish one clear of his Belgian counterpart.

The 32-year-old had equalled the course record with a sizzling 61 on Saturday to earn a one-shot lead, which inflated to three after four birdies through his first 11 holes.

Winning at the Home of Golf is never easy, and the three-time Ryder Cup player had to dig deep after dropping three shots in two holes with a bogey at the 14th following a double bogey at the 13th.

Dubai-resident Colsaerts birdied the next, meaning the leading duo were tied at 23 under with three holes to play and went shot for shot through the next two, leaving the destiny of the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship all down to the famous 18th.

Both players drove their tee shots just short of the green, with Hatton clipping an excellent chip to two feet while Colsaerts could only putt from off the green to eight feet. The Belgian then saw his birdie putt slide by, leaving Hatton to tap in for a closing three and become the first three-time winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Victory for Hatton means he has now earned enough points to play in both of the DP World Tour’s Play-Off events in the UAE, The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship.

“My last win was Abu Dhabi ’21 on the DP World Tour. So that was a long time ago. And I knew when I came back to play the British Masters and the Spanish Open last week, that I really wanted to earn enough points to be able to play in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from a World Ranking points perspective, a Ryder Cup points perspective,” said the LIV Golfer.

“I’ve been fortunate to play the DP World Tour Championship every year that I’ve had my tour card. Winning today secures my spot there. I’m really excited that I can compete in those two events at the back end of the year.”

Bryson, Scottie and Xander “could” play the DP World Tour Play-Offs

Jumeirah Golf Estates resident Tommy Fleetwood posted a closing five under par to finish third on 21 under, with Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Spaniard David Puig and South African Robin Williams sharing fourth on 19 under.

Hatton and his dad Jeff finished second in the Team Event at the Home of Golf, two shots behind Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen and Irish businessman Dermot Desmond, who triumphed on 48 under par after carding a better-ball 13 under par round of 59 in the final round.

Main Image: Getty Images

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At every edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, biographies of the star-studded amateur lineup are distributed. Most of the summaries are but a paragraph in length, briefly highlighting the various achievements of those prominent in the worlds of sport and business. Johann Rupert’s is the shortest of all, though. The driving force behind this now-23-year-old event, the South African is identified only as “Chairman of Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group.”

That, of course, only serves as the briefest of introductions to a man who has made an almost incalculable contribution to the DP World Tour (where he is an honorary vice president), his homeland (where he has multiple times been named business leader of the year and is chairman of the South African PGA Tour), and golf, in general.

Developer of the highly rated Leopard Creek Golf Club in Mpumalanga, South Africa, Rupert is reportedly worth around $12 billion. The 74-year-old is also the ultimate golf nut, one whose beneficence commendably knows few bounds.

He is not to be messed with either. In 2005, when a magazine described Afrikaans as an “ugly language,” Rupert withdrew all advertising for his various company brands, including Alfred Dunhill.

This week, however, Rupert’s role as tournament host at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns has taken on a unique significance. He is one of the few men in the world who could have convinced PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and the man in charge of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to play golf together at a time when the state of the professional game has perhaps never been under more threat. Throw in the presence of DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings and the last few days have surely moved things forward in that regard.

“Johann is so well-connected,” Kinnings said. “This is a man who speaks regularly to presidents. He and Nelson Mandela were close. He was a great friend of [the late former R&A secretary] Sir Michael Bonallack. He was also close to the founder of IMG, Mark McCormack and [Australian entrepreneur] Kerry Packer. Yet he is loved by the caddies on tour. He knows people at every level of the game. He understands business as well as anyone. He understands politics. And, while he is a proud South African, he is a citizen of the globe. He knows people the world over.”

To that end and perhaps most importantly, Rupert is known to be in favour of a coming together for the PGA Tour, the PIF and LIV Golf League and, more peripherally, the DP World Tour. Not for him the notion of conflicting and competing major tours playing alongside each other, parallel but never intersecting.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, shakes hands with Johann Rupert at the Dunhill Links – Warren Little

“Since I grew up near Leopard Creek, I have long been aware of just how much Johann does for South African golf and the game in general,” said Thriston Lawrence, the third man alongside Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel in the recent playoff for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. “After I turned pro, I met him through his involvement with Golf RSA. He’s everywhere. He creates so many opportunities for the young up-and-coming kids. Kids of color. Kids who struggle. He helps everyone and tries to give them all advance to go after their dreams. I can only say I appreciate enormously all that he does.

“He definitely had a plan this week. I smiled when I saw who he had playing together. I have to think he has a finger in the bigger pie too. He has a plan for all the tours to get together and sort out their problems. He clearly wants to see a global result.”

Lawrence, as you might expect, isn’t the only one who has picked up on Rupert’s hardly covert strategy. His wishes for the future are clear to see

“Look at the field this week,” continued Kinnings. “It is a mixture of DP World Tour players, PGA Tour members and those from LIV and an example of the sort of thing we could have going forward. You can see what Johann is doing. And he is doing it at the Home of Golf. He is bringing everyone together. He wants to help the process and take the game global. He can see the opportunities that we have right now, but he can also see the threats. He wants us to take advantage of the opportunities and leave golf in a better place.”

Noble stuff. And Kinnings is not above bragging about how great things have been on the DP World circuit these last few weeks. But he is justified in doing so. The Irish Open, BMW PGA, Spanish Open and now this week have provided a glimpse into an exciting future that could and should encompass the very best from all the current tours.

“This is a reminder of what the fans want to see,” confirmed Kinnings. “Johann knows that and sees that. He has great insight. This week he is making a statement. In fact, I’d want Johann in the chair during the current negotiations. He has the stature and commands the respect of everyone. And he’s neutral. He doesn’t have a foot in any camp. And he has a great record of bringing people together.”

Indeed, Rupert has many admirers beyond those running tours. Longtime Sky Sports commentator and former European Tour player Ewen Murray is another long-term admirer.

“Johann is not the sort of guy who tells you what he has done behind the scenes, he just does it,” says the Scot. “The kids in South Africa have a winter tour and a summer tour. So many of them are good players who have a chance to develop because of Johann. It’s all very well him saying to youngsters he can get them starts in pro events. That’s the easy part. For him anyway. But developing them properly is difficult. He looks at the talent. He looks at the character of the person. And he is colour-blind in that respect.

“He keeps an eye on them all until he thinks they are ready to get a chance. And he’s been doing that for 30 years. Ernie Els’ development tour and the foundations of just about every South African player— Johann is involved in them all. He’s one of the most exceptional men I’ve ever met in golf. When you see so many players at the Dunhill every year, you know it is part of their way of saying ‘thank you’ to him. They know how much he has done. Yet he never talks about his achievements.”

Still, amidst the sea of players Rupert has helped over the years, perhaps no one is as much in his debt as McIlroy. Back in 2007 as a newly turned pro, the teenage Northern Irishman received an invitation to the Dunhill Links. By finishing third, he won €211,321, avoided the roulette table that was the upcoming qualifying school and immediately earned his card for 2008 on what was then the European Tour.

“The tournaments Johann has put on here in St. Andrews are one thing,” said the four-time major champion. “He has been a great advocate for the game of golf. The support he has given to the South Africans is another thing, of course. So many great players owe a lot to him. I do too. He gave me an invite 17 years ago when he didn’t have to. That was a week that changed my life. I’ll always be grateful.”

And so say so many.

Main Image: David Cannon

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The deal was locked in until 2035, in a way to stand up to the threat brought on by LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which now seems to be moving in another direction.

It was clear to see that some players were to benefit more than most. From the start of the 2023 DP World Tour season, the top 10 finishers on the Race to Dubai Rankings, not otherwise exempt, would earn a PGA Tour card for the following season.

This led to fears that the DP World Tour would essentially be acting as a feeder circuit and giving away its best players to the PGA Tour. A thought that still gives Matt Fitzpatrick a sour taste in his mouth, four years down the line.

“I don’t think the (DP World) Tour should have gone with the PGA Tour,” he told reporters on the eve of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

“I was pretty livid, to be honest, at Wentworth when I found out that there was a handful of PGA Tour players coming to play [the BMW PGA Championship], and at that point in time, not every person who kept their card last year got in the field, which I think is a disgrace. That’s the flagship event.

“There’s no invites given to European Tour players at THE PLAYERS Championship. So why are we dishing them out for Wentworth?

“I thought that was absolutely absurd that that even went through.”

Keith Pelley and Jay Monahan. Ross Kinnaird

The agreement Fitzpatrick is mentioning was completed when the former DP World Tour Chief Executive Officer, Keith Pelley, was in office. A deal was struck alongside the Commissioner of the PGA Tour Jay Monahan to elevate tournaments and create more playing opportunities for both sides.

Pelley has since departed the DP World Tour, to lead powerhouse Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment as their President & Chief Executive Officer back in his home country of Canada.

The move by Pelley came at a critical time in golf. The DP World Tour was part of the then June 6 agreement with the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF to form a commercial company that could reshape how golf is run and how a global golf tour might look in the future.

“You have basically like a Premier League, Championship and League One of golf,” the 2022 U.S. Open  Champion went on to say. “You can bring everyone together and there’s more of a relegation promotion, there’s a few more stories there, you can work your way up. If everyone was together, I feel like that would be more beneficial, anyway.

“I can’t sit here and say that I know the viewing figures for LIV or PGA TOUR are going up or down. I just don’t know. But as a big football fan, there’s got to be more stories in the relegation-promotion rather than what I think there is now.

“Obviously I know LIV is a closed shop and they have a team aspect. As a football fan, I love team stuff. The Ryder Cup is amazing. All that stuff is great.

“So, I’m not fully against the team aspect but if it’s a closed shop, there’s not too many storylines in there.

“But at the same time, the PGA Tour is becoming a little bit more like that. What formats are they going to do? Is there a 70-man field? I don’t know.

Matt will be pleased to know that hopefully a deal is getting closer, as H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan the Governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and Jay Monahan are both in the field this week on the DP World Tour to play in the pro-am portion in Scotland. A bonus being they’re playing together in Round One at Carnoustie, which gets underway in less than an hour!

“There’s people that are smarter than me are involved. They know how to run businesses and know what to do and they are smart people. Smarter than me, and I would say smarter than the majority of the PGA TOUR players and golfers.”

Main Image: Vaughn Ridley

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Tom Morris 1821-1908Champion golfer 1861-62-64-67

But the view afforded David Annand’s sculpture of Old Tom Morris is spectacular. Situated on Bow Butts, the grassy bank that sits directly behind the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s clubhouse, the “Grand Old Man of Golf” gazes straight down the 18th fairway of the game’s most famous course. Just to the right of the 18th green sits his shop and the flat above (now owned and occupied by his great-great granddaughter, Shelia Walker) where Old Tom lived for a while.

It is the perfect spot. But, interestingly, not the first option considered. According to Ronald Sandford, chairman of the Old Tom Statue Project, various locations were discussed before being dismissed.

“We had a variety of options,” says the former Royal Navy Commodore. “The south-west corner of the Himalayas. The first tee of the New Course. Near the caddie shack. But we didn’t want to get in the way of spectators or golfers. So we moved away. The access is there. It has visibility. … So this was the obvious solution.”

Guests who attended the ceremony unveiling a Old Tom Morris Statue in St. Andrews included former Open winner Sandy Lyle, project chairman Ronald Sandford, Morris’ great, great granddaugther Sheila Walker, sculptor David Annand and historian Roger McStravick – David Cannon

Ross Parker – SNS Group

Ross Parker – SNS Group

David Cannon

Ross Parker – SNS Group

That Morris is worthy of such lasting recognition is not in doubt. Still the oldest winner of the Open Championship at 46—and still the only runner-up to finish behind his son—the phrase “legendary figure” barely does him justice. As well as being, for a time, the best golfer in the world, he distinguished himself in the field of course architecture. Prestwick, Muirfeld, Machrihanish, Royal Portrush and Royal County Down are just a few of his original designs.

Morris was also the father of modern greenskeeping. He introduced the concept of top-dressing putting surfaces with sand, which significantly helped turf growth. He introduced many novel ideas on turf and course management, including actively managing hazards and yardage markers. He was the first to use a push mower to cut greens.

Amongst the large crowd that gathered to watch the unveiling was another former Open champion Sandy Lyle. Winner of the claret jug in 1985, the Scot was also the first modern recipient of the champion’s belt, what was the forerunner to the icon trophy played for today.

“I just wanted to be around to see this thing that will be here for generations to come,” Lyle said. “Old Tom was such a remarkable man. This is probably long overdue. As an Open champion I do feel an affinity with the past winners. I felt strongly about being here. He did so much in the game of golf.”

Nothing comes easy though. It took Sandford nine years—the nine-strong committee was only formed in January this year—to get from “idea to unveiling” amidst a process riddled with hurdles. But the end result justifies any and all of what it took to get it done.

“The sculpture has a lovely finish to it,” said local historian, Roger McStravick, who was part of the statue project. “It fits. And it feels like Old Tom has come home.”

Main Image: Ross Parker – SNS Group

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