Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Clive Brown drives into office as R&A captain in traditional ceremony at St Andrews

Clive Brown drives into office as captain of the Royal and Ancient on Friday morning.
Clive Brown drives into office as captain of the Royal and Ancient on Friday morning.

Former Walker Cup captain Clive Brown has driven his way into office as captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

In keeping with the club’s long tradition, the 70-year-old Welshman hit a drive to the sound of a cannon firing on the first tee of the Old Course on Friday morning at 8 am.

The ceremony is a central part of the R&A’s annual autumn meeting. St Andrews professional Jim Farmer, the Royal and Ancient’s honorary pro, teed up the ball as is customary in a ceremony that dates from the early 1800s.

Mr Brown will serve a year in an ambassadorial role for The R&A to support its work in developing golf around the world.

He succeeds Wormit farmer Peter Forster, who was captain during this year’s 150th celebrations for The Open Championship at St Andrews.

R&A captain role ‘an honour’ for Brown

Mr Brown said, “I was really nervous so I’m absolutely elated that the ball got in the air and it went a reasonable distance. I had the benefit of Peter Forster’s advice, as well as being on the practice ground this morning to prepare.

“The Captaincy of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club is a historic role. It’s an honour and great thrill for me to represent this very special institution both at home and overseas.”

As is also traditional, the St Andrews Links caddies lined the fairway seeking to retrieve the golf ball and exchange it for a gold sovereign from the new captain.

Local caddie Martin O’Brien was the man who was positioned perfectly.

“I’ve attended the drive-in since 2019 and this is the first time I’ve collected the ball,” he said.

Caddie Martin O'Brien receives his gold sovereign from Mr Brown.
Caddie Martin O’Brien receives his gold sovereign from Mr Brown.

“I felt that he was going to hold the club a little tighter with the cannon going off at the same time. That generally means the ball is going to go left.

“It was worth the early morning start, but now it’s back to work as normal!”

An accountant to trade, Mr Brown is best known for having captained Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup team to victory over a US team featuring Tiger Woods at Royal Porthcawl in 1995.

Those matches were Woods’ sole Walker Cup – he was to turn professional just under two years later.

Distinguished career in the R&A and amateur golf

An accomplished international amateur player himself, Mr Brown made 65 appearances for Wales in the 1970s. He was non-playing captain on his country on 33 occasions in the 1980s.

He became a member of the R&A in 1995 and has filled most senior roles within the club. Mr Brown was a member of a number of committees in the club’s governance role in golf.

He served as chairman of the championship committee in 2017 and the Open Championship committee during 2018-19.

 

He has also chaired the Amateur Status Committee since 2019 and served on the General and Membership Committees.

Mr Brown served as a Rules official at a number of major professional championships and leading amateur championships. He was Chief Recorder at The Open from 2011 to 2015.

As well as The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, Mr Brown is an honorary member at Royal Porthcawl, Royal St Davids, Llandudno Maesdu, Conwy, (Caernarfonshire), Porthmadog and Rhuddlan golf clubs. He still plays to a handicap of 7.