My views unwelcome north of the border’, says PGA chief Sandy Jones

SANDY Jones, the chief executive of the PGA, has said he feels his opinions on Scottish golf are unwelcome in certain quarters and claimed the skills within his organisation are not being utilised in a joint-venture with the game’s amateur governing body.

Jones, who cut his teeth in Scotland before moving to The Belfry, has been critical of the Scottish Golf Union in recent years for not giving the PGA a louder voice in the bid to help the country’s leading amateurs make a smoother transition into the paid ranks.

He saw it as a step forward when Alan White, chairman of the PGA Scottish Region, got a seat alongside representatives of the SGU, SLGA and Sport Scotland on the board of Scottish Golf Support Limited, the body set up to hand out £1 million of government money over a five-year period to help rookie professionals.

But, in addition to feeling White is encountering difficulties in trying to make his voice heard around that table, Jones said he found it hurtful that his personal input into anything to do with the Scottish game seemed to be disregarded north of the Border.

“I’m passionate about Scotland – that’s where I came from and where I’d like to go back to some day. My brief is much wider nowadays. But, as regards the Scottish issue, I sometimes wonder if I should be concentrating on it,” he said. “I get the feeling that I’m not particularly welcomed. My intrusions are not welcomed. It’s frustrating. It’s almost a sadness for me. I get quite hurt [by not being welcomed] when you think maybe I could offer something.”

Four players – Callum Macaulay, Gavin Dear, Krystle Caithness and Kylie Walker – each received £25,000 in tailored support earlier this year from Scottish Golf Support Limited to help them in their bid to become successful Tour professionals.

Jones, who hails from Glenboig in Lanarkshire, added: “Relations are better and we’ve made progress, although I think at times it’s a struggle for Alan’s voice to be heard. There’s this almost Scottish nationalist mentally, that we need to do it within Scotland all the time.

“You get best practice by working with each other. There’s still a reluctance to engage. I’ve got four MBAs, doctorates etc, all working on my team now. I’ve also got some very highly-qualified coaches, and yet we don’t get engaged.”

Despite Scotland being crowned as world amateur champions in 2008, the same year they lifted the European title, Jones commented: “If I was looking at the Scottish Golf Union as a football team and our success rate is what it is after ten years, you’d have to question it.

“It’s still clear that the SGU see themselves as developing Scottish golf through that transition programme, and yet there are many people within amateur golf who think why are we bothering about the professional game. I have great sympathy for that.”

Jones said he wasn’t being “critical” and he described Douglas Connon, the SGU’s chairman, as a “very sincere person”. But he went on to question why Scotland’s leading amateurs were bracketed in an elite squad. “I wish people would stop describing their amateurs as being an elite level, this perception that we’re here,” he said. “They’re only probationary elite level.

“You look at the recent Walker Cup. Yes, there were 20 good players [at Royal Aberdeen], but you wonder how many will come through and be top level tournament professionals. If you get three or four out of that group, you’re doing well.”

Last night Hamish Grey, the SGU’s chief executive, refused to get involved in a war of words with Jones. He told The Scotsman: “We have worked closely with the PGA in recent times. There are some exciting joint-projects under way in coaching and coaching education. If we have any issue as partners, we will do that directly with the PGA.”

As part of the bid to get leading amateurs better prepared for making the move into the paid game, the SGU received a handful of invitations for the last two Aberdeen Asset Northern Opens, with Hazelhead’s David Law using one of them to become the first amateur to claim the title in more than 30 years.

Jones would like to see more Tartan Tour events featuring amateurs. “That might be a problem with some of our members, but for me it is what should be happening if we are serious about playing a proper role in the development and evolution of the game,” he said.