CEO Slumbers Awakens R&A from Near-Vegetative State

Slumbers also sees the wider, political picture and says, “I think it will also influence governments to invest in golf as an Olympic sport and provide greater support for participation programmes,” adding, “That may take time to feed through the system, but it is very important for golf to be part of such a global celebration of sport.”

Having gained experience of the Far East during a distinguished career in the financial services industry, Slumbers, a father-of-two is upbeat about the development of golf in the region, observing, “We have already seen tremendous success for Asian players in the women’s game, and I think Ariya Jutanugarn’s victory at Woburn last year demonstrated a growing strength in depth throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

“In the men’s game, we have seen Hideki Matsuyama progress from winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship to go on and win on the PGA Tour and contend in ‘Major’ championships [and] there are numerous other [Asian] players contending on a regular basis, so I think there is every possibility [a second Asian ‘Major’ champion] will happen sooner rather than later.

“We have two members of staff serving the Asia-Pacific region and felt that an office in Singapore cemented our position and demonstrated our commitment to the region,” says Slumbers, adding, “There are a huge range of initiatives we are involved in throughout Asia, and it is a key area for us in terms of encouraging the future growth of the sport.

“Sentosa is the ideal place for us to operate from and is in many ways a hub for golf in Asia, with some of the leading bodies having regional headquarters there. We will be working closely with the club on the Singapore Open, which is part of The Open Qualifying Series, and the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship which will be played there in 2018,” although the man about to preside over his third Open Championship is less keen to get involved in the thorny China Golf Association, Asian Tour and OneAsia issue.

“This issue has been going on for many years,” he says, adding, “We are aware of the situation and are happy to provide assistance where we can, but this is largely an issue for the Tours themselves to resolve.”

And he does not see the correction in golf course supply in China as anything to get overly concerned about, stating, “The R&A was not consulted on this matter as it is an internal Chinese Government issue [but] the process to now have 496 courses approved in China has been positive and gave certainty to these courses.

“The Central Government also issued a new policy in 2016 titled ‘Accelerating the Development of the Fitness and Leisure Industry,’ where golf is a ‘Feature Sport’ in this policy, and it should help provide guidelines for construction and land-use of future golf projects.”

Corporate governance is an issue Slumbers is strangely reluctant to discuss when asked about the trials and tribulations of other sports governing bodies such as FIFA, playing a distinctly straight-bat, saying, “I’m afraid we would rather not get into giving an open-ended comment of that kind,” but there must surely be a huge amount the R&A could pass-on, having an unrivalled and unbroken run of 263 years with a clean bill of financial health.

Evidence of the Slumbers hand on the financial tiller is clear from an analysis of the official accounts for R&A Championships Ltd, which promotes and manages events such as the Open Championship and the Amateur Championship.

Turnover was up from £66m to £70.4m in his first year at the helm, an increase of 6.6%, administrative expenses marginally down, staff costs static, the classic telltale signs of a financial expert in charge.

But balancing the books is no longer good enough within the hallowed portals of the R&A Clubhouse in St. Andrews; getting the Open Championship back to the pinnacle of the game will be a yardstick by which the Slumbers era will ultimately be measured, and, as FIFA has found to its cost over recent years, the loyalty of national governing bodies under its aegis, especially in Asia, is directly linked to the financial support they receive from the centre.