Martin Slumbers is due to bring his nine-year tenure as the R&A’s CEO to an end later this year following a final Open Championship at Royal Troon and an AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews’ Old Course.
He will be replaced by Mark Darbon in November, the man who left his position as CEO of Premiership Rugby club, Northampton Saints and who has also been a senior member of the team leading the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
But before Slumbers’ exit, the 64-year-old shared some early parting words with journalists in Scotland on Wednesday as the R&A prepared itself for the 152nd Open.
Speaking to the assembled media at Troon, Slumbers wished to discuss several key topics – including participation and prize money – while facing questions on how to ensure the game remains viable given the various challenges it faces and also whether a familiar course may host an Open again soon.
Here are all of the key takeaways from Slumbers’ final Open Championship press conference.
GOLF IS A PYRAMID
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Slumbers began his press conference by pointing out that golf is currently “riding on the crest of a wave” at the moment having emerged from the Covid pandemic as one of the only sports to have grown.
He stated that golf is benefitting from a surge in participation and “more than 100 million people experience the game in one form or another around the world.”
But the R&A’s CEO argued that to maintain such success, a sustainable business model must be created in the long term – with The Open becoming the first and only men’s Major not to increase its total prize purse this year.
Slumbers said: “As you know, I’ve expressed concern in recent years about financial sustainability in the men’s professional game. If we take a wider perspective on the game for a second, golf is in many ways riding on the crest of a wave. The golf industry is benefitting from a surge in participation, and more and more people are experiencing golf in all its forms.
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“The latest participation figures for 2023 showed that in the countries we’re responsible for, there were 62.3 million people playing golf, which is a rise of 1.1 million on the previous year.
“These are very encouraging figures, but we have to maintain this momentum. To…
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