Ivor Robson, official starter at the Open Championship who introduced the golfers to the crowd for 40 years – obituary

Ivor Robson, who has died aged 83, never craved stardom, but as official starter he spent more than 40 weeks of his life centre stage on the first tee at the Open Championship keeping company with the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Sir Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, watched by millions of television viewers around the world.

Robson began his tenure as official starter to the Open in 1975 at Carnoustie where Tom Watson, making his debut, captured the first of five Claret Jugs; coincidentally, they both retired in 2015, and at St Andrews, where Watson made his last appearance the golfer presented Robson with an 18th-green flag inscribed: “We have travelled the road together. All the best on your retirement. Tom Watson.”

Where Robson immediately succeeded, in what was his first role only nine days after joining the sports goods company Accles and Pollock, who provided the official starter, was in keeping his introductions simple. There were no biographical preambles as he sent players on their journey to become the “champion golfer of the year” with a straightforward “On the tee” message – which he did on 18,995 occasions in a mellifluous Scottish voice which would be mimicked around the world.

In fact Robert Ivor Vincent Robson was an Englishman, born on September 10 1940, in Kimmerston, Northumberland, in the Borders. On leaving school in Tweedmouth aged 15, he worked on a farm – where his father, Robert, was the stableman and his mother, Mary, the housekeeper – to earn money to buy an accordion.

He met his future wife Lesley at one of the regular dances held in the village of Lucker, and on marrying they moved to Gretna Green, where he managed the Lovers’ Leap Motel before taking on a similar role at the Annandale Arms Hotel in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, where they settled.

Robson’s first role in golf came in 1967 as greenkeeper and club manager at Moffat Golf Club, where he earned £10 a week. After a short spell in a sports shop, he joined the Accles and Pollock’s sporting goods team of representatives. The company had first provided a starter for the European Tour in 1974 and Robson began on the burgeoning circuit in 1976.

By then an accomplished golfer, he was invited to play on the Queen’s Course at Gleneagles by Ken Schofield, then executive director of the European Tour; the fourball was completed by Schofield’s colleague George O’Grady and the revered Scottish golf writer Jock MacVicar.

“Ivor was not at his best,” O’Grady recalled. “In fact he was beyond appalling for six holes as he was so nervous playing with two so-called ‘very important’ administrators and the legendary Jock MacVicar. On the 7th Ivor hit another drive over ‘mid-wicket’, at which point I said ‘Ivor, when did you decide to stop being a pro golfer?’ We all had a good laugh, after which Ivor played the remaining holes in well under par and took the money.”

Robson spent much of his time on the road – often for seven weeks at a time – although the Bonnington Hotel, Moffat, bought in 1984, which Lesley managed, he had a sanctuary to which to return. At work he never wore a rain-suit, whatever the weather, preferring blazer and tie, and though as an intensely private man he shunned fame, he earned celebrity status for not taking toilet breaks even during a 10-hour stretch at the mic. “I didn’t eat or drink anything,” he explained. “My belief was if you don’t have any input, you shouldn’t have any output.”

Although he was diagnosed with type two diabetes Robson was not forced into retirement. On discovering that the Open would return to St Andrews in 2015 he targeted the “Home of Golf”, which held a special place in his heart, as the time and place to go. He was invited by the Royal & Ancient to the traditional Champions Dinner on the Tuesday evening and presented with a replica of the Claret Jug with all the winners’ names inscribed on it.

The testimonials on his retirement were led by Tiger Woods, who said: “Thank you, Ivor, for making each one of my Opens memorable.”

Live accordion music was incorporated by Willie MacRoberts, a local player from Moffat, into Robson’s funeral. This included a tune written for him many years earlier by Ian Holmes, the accordion player from Dumfries: it is called The Ivor Robson March.

Ivor Robson is survived by his wife, Lesley, and by their two children, Julia and Philip.

Ivor Robson, born September 10 1940, died October 14 2023

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