MCFEE & LLEWELLYN IN MALTA

13/02/2012

I suppose one of the best known referees in golf is Andy McFee. Andy, now a senior referee on the European Tour, was the one that had to inform Ian Poulter of his one shot penalty when the ball slipped out of the player’s hand and moved his ball marker on the green. This cost Poulter the 2010 Dubai World Championship; a number of world ranking points and over €300,000 in earnings for his accidental error. David Llewellyn is our National Team coach with the pinnacle of his career being the winning of the World Cup with Ian Woosnam in 1987. David has very recently received honorary membership from the PGA of GB&I for his services to golf.

Between 1978 and 1981, David Llewellyn was the resident professional at Royal Malta. During his time here he organised a couple of pro-am tournaments and coerced a number of his friends to visit Malta and play in this tournament. Of course, this needed a referee and the PGA sent Andy. This was to be McFee’s first tournament in charge – here at Royal Malta.

A lot of things have changed since then. Apart from the personal success of the individuals and Royal Malta’s improvement in grass cover and quality of the course the most obvious one is the size of the men themselves. Perhaps Malta’s Mediterranean diet – already famous at that time – had something to do with it.

Photo courtesy of Gustav Ricci.