Golf reporting legend Renton Laidlaw’s talk to Rotary

The Rotary Club of St Andrews senior vice president Hamish Tait welcomed Renton Laidlaw to the club.

Renton, known for his golf writing in particular, worked for the Edinburgh Evening News, Grampian Television, the BBC, the Evening Standard in London and PGA European Productions.

He has been the golf correspondent for the BBC in Britain and for the World Service and was for 15 years the European anchor for the Golf Channel.

Renton covered 165 Majors, including 58 Opens and 42 Masters, for which he earned a lifetime achievement award and has been grandfathered at Augusta which means he is welcome to go every year.

He is a recipient of the Jack Nicklaus Memorial Award for golfing journalism and has earned lifetime achievement awards from the PGA of America, the PGAs of Britain, the Scottish PGA and the PGAs of Europe.

A Rotary spokesman said: “We heard about the famous personalities he has met and interviewed, including Gene Hackman, Michael Douglas, Gracie Fields, Samuel L Jackson, Bing Crosby, Richard Nixon and Bob Hope.

“He talked about the golfing greats like Seve Ballesteros, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Doug Sanders, Tom Watson, Jose Maria Olazabal and the modest Sandy Lyle, who was clearly a favourite of his.”

Renton has been a long time supporter of Rotary’s fundraising efforts and for more information visit standrewsrotary.net