Mair’s flair for innovation adds to landmark year in Scottish golf
BOTH appointed around the same time, Brian Mair believes his honeymoon period as secretary of the PGA in Scotland has been more satisfying than David Moyes’ start as Manchester United manager.
Mair’s first season was illuminated by Greig Hutcheon being crowned as the British No 1, as well as four Tartan Tour players – Hutcheon, Graham Fox, Gareth Wright and Scott Henderson – making the PGA Cup team.
He has also watched the likes of Paul O’Hara take a step back to use the circuit to kickstart his career after the two-times Scottish Amateur Championship finalist had been in danger of seeing his potential unfulfilled.
On the back of those factors, Mair has been able to bolster the 2014 schedule and, though the prize fund will not match the ambitious £1 million set a few years back by PGA chief executive Sandy Jones, Ryder Cup year should be a good one for Scotland’s home-based players.
“I came in about the same time as David Moyes was given the Man United job and I think my tenure has probably been a bit easier than his,” reflected Mair.
“I remember saying at the time it was good to come in then as we were straight into the season and that allowed me very early to see what we had in terms of the tournament side. I’m very aware that the events are just one part we work on but that’s the side that gets publicity and, hopefully, allows us to talk about other things we are doing.”
In an event in which every player was welcomed on to the first tee by Mair, Hutcheon won the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship en route to topping the Order of Merit before the Banchory man triumphed in the end-of-season Titleist PGA Play-Offs in Turkey.
“It’s been a good season,” added Mair, a former marketing director at Lanark-based golf clothing company Glenmuir. “In our nine Order of Merit events, we had eight winners so there’s depth in there.
“We had four players in the PGA Cup team, were runnersup in the PGAs of Europe International Team Championship, Greig Hutcheon has done superbly and we’ve had Paul O’Hara coming through in the assistants. We have real quality on the Tartan Tour and that’s great, as one of my challenges has been finding new sponsors and we have to tell them about the product.
“We are asking them to support a Tour that will produce another Paul Lawrie and, though I can’t say much about the schedule next year at the moment, it is looking really, really promising and that is a reflection of the strength of this year.”
Sandy Jones, a former PGA in Scotland secretary before taking the reins at The Belfry, will never be allowed to forget setting that £1m target for Mair’s predecessor, Michael MacDougall.
It was made at a time when sponsorship suddenly became harder to find and the reduction in 72-hole events on the circuit sparked the rise of the Optical Express Tour, run by Alan Tait before its events were added to the Tartan Tour schedule.
It also includes the Paul Lawrie Invitational, held for the last three years at Deeside, and, having cut his competitive teeth on the circuit, the former Open champion is doing all he can to help provide playing opportunities for the likes of Hutcheon and O’Hara, the Scottish Young Professionals’ champion.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a target,” said Mair. “And I’m very aware of the challenge Sandy put down to poor Mikey (MacDougall). Sandy realises that. As long as it’s going in the right direction then I’ll be happy and we will have new events, I can tell you that. It will be a combination of pro-ams and pro only events. On the Order of Merit, we will have at least two new events. We have some significant new sponsors, too.
“Some people have been instrumental in helping us do that; the players, the association and someone like Paul Lawrie. He has been absolutely wonderful.
“[Former European Tour winner] Stephen McAllister, too. He’s another guy who has helped. He knows the ropes and has a great network of connections and that’s been great for me coming in. He understands things from a player’s perspective. We need to raise the bar in terms of our presentation and I think the players would agree. Whether it’s a Northern Open or another Order of Merit event, it’s important that it has the look and feel of a proper tournament. That’s what we are aspiring to.
“The Scottish PGA this year only really got a few people on the last day and there’s work to do there. It’s a bit chicken and egg. To raise the profile, we need sponsors to come in, to get that we need the right product.”
Having once been perceived as being at logger-heads, it is encouraging that the PGA in Scotland and the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), the amateur body, now appear to have a cordial relationship.
“I’ve been very encouraged by the support from the SGU,” declared Mair. “We speak on a regular basis. Indeed, we had one company introduced to us by the SGU. It wasn’t for them, but they thought it would be a better fit for us. That’s a relationship we want to see going forward.”