St Andrews, Scotland: The traditional driving-in ceremony for the new Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews took place on the first tee of the Old Course today. Ian Pattinson started his year in office with a drive at precisely 8 am as a cannon fired alongside the tee.
A large crowd, including Past Captains of the Club, gathered to watch the ceremony.
As Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Pattinson will serve in an ambassadorial role for the Club and also for The R&A to support its work in developing golf around the world and will attend its professional and amateur championships and matches in that capacity.
After hitting his tee shot, Pattinson said: “I am honoured and privileged to serve as Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and to be an ambassador for both the Club and The R&A as it carries out its responsibilities to the sport around the world.
“It was humbling to see so many people behind the tee this morning and I am very grateful to everyone who came along. I was very happy and relieved to hit a decent drive.”
Pattinson was raised in a golfing family. His father Reg played in The Open on two occasions as an amateur, represented England and won the inaugural Senior Amateur Championship in 1969.
Educated at The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Law and captained Cambridge University Golf Club, Pattinson went on to represent Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and subsequently Cambridgeshire at county level.
After a career as a solicitor in the City of Cambridge, Pattinson retired from his partnership in a regional law firm in 2014.
He became a Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1989 and has served the Club and the R&A Group in numerous roles in the last 30 years, including as Chairman of the Rules of Golf and the Equipment Standards Committees and as the first ever Chairman of the World Handicap Board.
From 2018 to 2022 he was Chairman of the General Committee and Chairman of The R&A Group boards.
A highly experienced referee, Pattinson served as a Rules Official at The Open from 1995 to 2018 and on multiple occasions at the Masters Tournament between 1997 and 2019 as well as at other Major championships. He was also The R&A’s Rules of Golf Advisor to the BBC for The Open from 2004 to 2015 and he performed a similar role for Sky Sports from 2016 to 2018.
Pattinson is an Honorary Member of Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Club, where he was Captain in its centenary year in 1993 and has served as President since 2023. He is also a member of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, Merion Golf Club (US), the Oxford & Cambridge Golfing Society and the Senior Golfers’ Society. His current Handicap Index is 4.9.
Pattinson’s wife Jan is also a keen golfer and a two-time past Lady Captain of Royal Worlington & Newmarket. The couple live in the Cambridge area and have two sons, James and Jonathan, and two grandsons.
In the past, the Club Captaincy was bestowed on the winner of the annual Challenge for the Silver Club but by the early 19th Century the Captaincy had become an elected office. Part of the tradition is that the new Captain buys his golf ball back from the caddie who retrieves and returns it with a gold sovereign. The sovereign bears the head of His Majesty King Charles III.
Caddie Mike Lowe successfully returned the ball to Pattinson.
“This is my first season caddying in St Andrews and I have been looking forward to this all year. I got down here early, which is just like me being too eager. But I ended up being the one to return the ball, so I am really lucky,” said the 42-year-old who is from Manchester.
“Ian is a lovely man. He congratulated me and told me all about how special the medal is. I wished him well for his Captaincy and the season ahead.”
