John Huggan: Alistair Low fires R&A into new era

JUST over a month ago, the now new captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews played the Old Course with three friends. Walking off the 18th green, Alistair Low's caddie told him he knew where he'd be standing when the time came (at 8am last Thursday morning) for the former Scottish international and British Youths champion to perform the annual driving-in ceremony fr om the most famous first tee in all of golf: "About 240 yards out and maybe ten yards left of where you are aiming."

As tradition demands, a local caddie returned the ball struck by Low in exchange for a gold sovereign. The ball will be encased in silver and take its place in the R&A trophy room. All of which is but the starting point for the myriad activities that will largely occupy the next 12 months of Low's life: club and county dinners across the UK, trips to the Asian Amateur Championship, the Masters and the US Open and, happily for a graduate of the University of St. Andrews, more time spent in the "Auld Grey Toon" itself.

Still, if anyone deserves a ceremonial break from more pressing matters it is Low, an actuary by trade. In his time, the 69-year old Dundonian, now resident in Gullane, has served as chairman of the Scottish Golf Union, captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and chairman of both the R&A's Championship Committee and General Committee. That represents a lot of time spent arguing the golfing toss around tables in darkened rooms.

Before that, Low was a golfer of some repute. A semi-finalist in the 1960 Scottish Boys Championship, he three times reached the last four of the Scottish Amateurs and twice represented his country in the Home Internationals. "I played for Scotland in 1964 and 1965, before I fell by the wayside," he says with a smile. "I never made Walker Cup. I started work in 1964 and it became more and more difficult to devote enough time to my game.

"The changes in amateur golf have been amazing. The first time I played for Scotland was the first time anyone got a sweater. And I still have mine. We didn't get any golf balls though. I remember telling Bernard Gallacher to take a few balls with him when he was capped. So changed days indeed."

It was in 1980 that Low first experienced administration R&A style. He said: "My first duty was at the Open that year, which shows how much things have changed in that sphere of golf, too. I didn't have to take any rules examinations or anything like they have to do today. It was straight in and get on with it. Nowadays it is so much more professional. And I think rightly so.

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