A DECADE AT THE TOP

Before stepping down as CEO of The R&A, Martin Slumbers spoke to Fergus Bisset about his time at the helm before reflecting on photos of key moments from those years...

- Martin Slumbers

As I walked up the final few steps towards Martin Slumbers' office in the Royal and Ancient clubhouse, I heard a chortle of laughter. Martin was standing at the window, looking out across the links. He turned to me with a broad smile. "Fergus, come and have a look at this," he said. "I just watched this group teeing off the 1st and two of them hit it on the beach. They're down there now trying to find their balls." We watched for a few minutes, empathised with their plight and remembered difficult moments of our own from various 1st tees.

After nine years as CEO of The R&A, the 63-year-old still takes huge joy from golf, good and bad! I've known Martin for most of his R&A tenure having been on a number of trips with him to cover the Latin America Amateur Championship and the AsiaPacific Amateur Championship.

Something that has always struck me is his obvious passion for golf and determination to play a part in moving it to a stronger footing.

"I want to play golf. I want to see more people play golf and I want to see more people think that this is a game for people like them," he says to me.

During his time in the hot seat Martin has helped facilitate some significant changes in golf. His remit was to be proactive, and he certainly has been. The root of his endeavours has been an increased commercialisation of The R&A's main product - The Open Championship. The R&A's revenue comes from The Open brand and the more revenue it generates, the more money can be invested back into golf around the globe, from grassroots to elite level. The R&A does not aim to make a profit; its aim is to grow the game of golf.

Both the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific and Women's Amateur Latin America championships have been established on Martin's watch, and in 2024, the inaugural Africa Amateur Championship was played, together with the Africa Women's Amateur Invitational.