The £70,000 golf club

A COLLECTION of golf memorabilia – including a putter used by St Andrews golfing legend Old Tom Morris – could fetch as much as £2 million when it goes on sale later this year.

Lots including paintings, clubs and balls dating back hundreds of years are included in the sale, to be held at Christie’s in London on 30 May.

A painting of a golf course in North Berwick by artist Sir John Lavery is expected to fetch around £300,000.

The putter, estimated to fetch around £70,000, was used by father and son Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, who won eight Open Championships between them in the 19th century.

Also up for sale are Featherie balls, made from a mixture of cowhide and goose feathers, which could fetch as much as £20,000.

They were brought in during the 17th century, replacing wooden balls, before being replaced in turn by rubber balls in the 19th century.

The collection was put together over a quarter of a century by Jaime Ortiz-Patino who founded the Valderrama Golf Club in Spain.