Mark Darbon leaves Northampton Saints to become new R&A chief

The R&A – the governing body and the organisation which runs The Open and AIG Women’s Open and invests in developing golf around the world – have shown diligent advance planning in naming the successor to Martin Slumbers as its new chief executive.

Mark Darbon will swap the oval ball for the dimpled variety, after the 45-year-old Englishman – currently chief executive of English Rugby Union Premiership champions Northampton Saints and who previously worked as a senior member of the organising committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London – was named to succeed Slumbers.

Darbon, a former England under-21 hockey international and a keen golfer who plays off a three handicap, will take over the role from Slumbers in November. His first Open as chief executive will be for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush next year.

“I am thrilled and honoured to be taking up these positions with The R&A and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and to be moving into golf, a sport I have always loved. The R&A is a globally renowned organisation and does so much to ensure that golf prospers from grassroots through to the professional game,” said Darbon.

Leona Maguire one shot clear after first round of Aramco Series event in London

---

Galway amateur Liam Nolan qualifies for the Open Championship in Troon

---

Mark Darbon leaves Northampton Saints to become new R&A chief

---

Marcel Siem defeats Tom McKibbin in playoff to win Italian Open

---

Top amateur competition comes to Lahinch

In terms of showcasing Irish links courses to global audiences, the past few weeks has proven quite a marketing coup with Ballyliffin and Portmarnock staging the R&A men’s and women’s amateur championships in successive weeks.

This week, it’s Lahinch’s turn as the Co Clare venue plays host to the Arnold Palmer Cup – named in honour of The King – where the United States takes on an International team.

Rather fittingly, the two champions of the past two weeks – Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen and American Melanie Green – continue their links odysseys.

The Palmer Cup, which runs from Friday to Sunday, was first staged in 1997 and has grown into a significant Ryder Cup-style competition for university students.

There are four Irish players on the International team at Lahinch: Kate Lanigan (NUI Maynooth), Sara Byrne (University of Miami), Ryan Griffin (NUI Maynooth) and Max Kennedy (University of Louisville).

Royal Dublin’s Kennedy – who lost out in a playoff for the European Amateur Championship in Denmark on Saturday – will be busy this week as he competes in Final Qualifying at Dundonald Links before moving on to Lahinch.

Word of Mouth

“I started working with a hypnotherapist a few weeks ago just to take another angle into trying to get myself sorted out .... I saw a little bit of a spark last week [in The Travelers], but nothing to show this coming. This is crazy” – Cam Davis explaining how he broke out of a rut (with no top-10s anywhere since the Australian Open last November) to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

By the Numbers: 18

There are 18 Irish players competing in the Final Qualifying tournaments – at four courses in Britain – in their efforts to claim one of the 16 available exemptions into The 152nd Open at Royal Troon in a fortnight’s time: Jack Madden, Nially Kearney and Colm Moriarty are in the field at Burnham & Berrow (where Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia are also playing); Graeme McDowell, Thomas Abom and Jack Hume are competing at Royal Cinque Ports; Brendan McCarroll, Jake Whelan, Max Kennedy, Ciarán Lavery, Dermot McElroy, Conor Purcell, Liam Nolan and Matt McClean are at Dundonald Links; Gary Hurley, Alex Maguire, Gerard Dunne and Liam Grehan are at West Lancashire. In total, there are 288 players competing in final qualifying.

On this day: July 2nd, 1995

It was only after Jim Gallagher jnr won the FedEx Cup St Jude Classic that he revealed the extra motivation he’d brought into the week.

Gallagher closed the deal with a final round 72 for a total of 17-under-par 267 (a stroke clear of Jay Delsing and Ken Green) for his fifth career win on the PGA Tour before revealing the inspiration behind the victory.

Lindsey Gilmer, an eight-year-old girl from his hometown in Mississippi, had undergone treatment for leukemia at the St Jude Hospital. Indeed, Gallagher and his wife, Cissye, had funded transport for the girl’s family to visit during the child’s treatment.

“I didn’t want to make that real public thing, that was kind of my own little deal. You really don’t ever want to, not so much jinx yourself,” said an emotional Gallagher after winning. “Any time it looked like it was getting a little rough out there, I just thought of Lindsey and thought about what I was going to say if I did win.”

True to his word, Gallagher also kept the promise to take Lindsey and her family on a trip to Disney World.

X-Twitter Twaddle

After watching the debate last night, I feel it never got personal until they started talking about golf handicaps and who hits the longest drives. As a golfer, I get it – Phil Mickelson on the golf debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Let’s settle this whole handicap debate. I’ll host the golf match on my YouTube – Bryson DeChambeau offering to facilitate a matchup.

Watched @rogerfederer doc last night….wow. Can’t recommend it enough to anybody thinking about watching it. Everything about him was/is inspiring. As an athlete and how he carries himself doing it. I (selfishly) enjoyed his @rolex collection throughout too – Justin Thomas crossing the sporting line to recommend legendary tennis player Roger Federer’s documentary, Twelve Final Days.

Know the Rules

Q During the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour, Cam Young broke the shaft in his driver. It came after a snap hook on the Par 5 14th hole, where the player then stuck his clubhead on the ground on the tee and put his weight onto the shaft. He used a 3-wood for drives off the tee for the rest of the round. Why was he not allowed to replace the driver?

A The Rules of Golf don’t allow for a player to replace a club if it becomes non-conforming through a display of anger such as that carried out by Young.

In the Bag

Cam Davis: Rocket Mortgage Classic

Driver – Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees)

3-wood – Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees)

Irons – Titleist T100 (3), Titleist 620 Cb (4-PW)

Wedges – Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52 and 56 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60 degrees)

Putter – Scotty Cameron TourType Special Select Masterful Prototype

Ball – Titleist Pro V1