Martin Dempster: Straight talker who had Scottish success at heart

Published on 18/09/2012 01:28

THEY say that first impressions are ever-lasting. More often than not I’ve found that to be a good rule of thumb, but there has definitely been the odd exception.

For instance, the first time I met Lindsay Stewart was when he was team manager of a Scottish side, which included Andrew Coltart, Mark King and Simon Mackenzie, taking part in the 1990 European Youths’ Team Championship in Turin.

For starters, I was baffled why a man who had never played international golf himself held such a position – learning subsequently that he enjoyed a seven-year unbroken winning run probably answered that one – and was also perturbed that he appeared to ruffle feathers in his dealings with tournament and golf club staff.

Then, on our journey home, he took me to task when, after I’d had to borrow an SGU-branded polo shirt from one of the players following a mishap on the flight, he marched over to me and barked: “We are very particular about who wears one of those.”

The more I got to know Lindsay – the same, probably, for him – however, the more I realised that his actions on that trip were driven by his desire to see Scottish golf being successful at the highest level and, in fact, he had a warm and friendly manner.

As for the shirt incident, I now agree entirely with his sentiment as every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to be wearing SGU-branded gear at tournaments these days.

Lindsay was laid to rest yesterday at the age of 86. He’d become a personal friend and will be sorely missed, especially on his home Lothians patch.