At the British Open, a Scot named Ivor Robson became one of the most distinctive and respected voices in golf by saying very little. Known as a starting pitcher, he stood at a lectern near the first tee during each round of major championships. His mission there was simple. It was about introducing each player.
“On Tee, he’s the American Jack Nicklaus,” he used to say in a slightly higher-pitched singing brogue.
Or “On the tee, Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland.”
He arrived at his post around 6:30 a.m. and didn’t leave until all the golfers had teed off. 156 golfers teed off in each of the first two rounds. He did not eat or drink anything for 9 to 10 hours before or after taking his position.
Even if there was time between introductions, he never took a bathroom break at the ‘comfort station’.
He said, “I have no input.” “No output.”
He explained his course limitations to Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated in 1999: “I don’t want water spilling into the cup. I don’t want food around. I don’t have time to make excuses. I do not have time!”
When he returned to the hotel at the end of the day, he would call room service for his only meal of the day.
Mr. Robson, who retired from starting competition in 2015, passed away on October 15. The R&A, which organizes the British Open, announced the news of his death but did not disclose the cause or location of his death. He was 83 years old and lived in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Mr. Robson, who was born in England in 1940, was himself a golfer, competing on the Scottish professional tour in the 1960s and 1970s and serving as a club professional in Scotland.
He began his 40-year playing career in the Open Championship (as it was officially known) in 1975 in Carnoustie, Scotland, at the invitation of the golf shaft company that hired the tournament’s starters. He went on to play in St. Petersburg, where the Open was held. It has played a part in other links courses such as Andrews, Turnberry, Royal Birkdale and Muirfield.
“Nobody told me what to do,” he told golf website Bunkered this year. “When I started in 1975, I had to figure it out on my own. ‘What should I do here?’ Please keep it simple, where it’s from, the player’s name, and send it in.”
Mr. Robson’s job was similar to that of a public address announcer at a baseball game. But they work in a protected press box. Mr Robson braved the heat, cold and rain, always dressed in a blazer and tie. (He has been a popular announcer for 41 years, and has also been a starter in various golf competitions such as the European DP World Tour.)
“There was a smile in his eyes and a lilt in his voice,” Mike Tirico, an NBC sportscaster who covers the British Open for ESPN and ABC, said in a phone interview. “If you mention his name to a player, they will mimic the way he pronounces his name and his intonation.”
Mr Robson often chatted with players before they took their swings and observed them facing pressure, especially at the start of the final round on Sunday.
“You can see the tension,” he said in a 2019 video interview with Golfing World magazine. “They don’t listen to you. They know they’re talking to you but aren’t really sure what to say. “The club head is shaking when addressing the ball.”
His last British Open at St Andrews in 2015 was also the last for Tom Watson, who won the tournament five times. “He gave me a flag on the 18th green with a message,” Mr Robson told Today’s Golfer magazine in 2022. “’We have traveled this long road together. Do your best in retirement. Tom Watson.’”
After Mr Robson’s death, Tiger Woods wrote on, formerly known as Twitter “Thank you Ivor for making every single one of my openings memorable.” Woods won the British Open three times.
Mr. Robson’s survivors include his wife, Lesley; his daughter Julia; and his son Philip.
When the R&A chose Mr Robson’s successor, it chose two men. David Lancaster did most of the work, with backup Matt Corker filling in when Mr. Lancaster took a break or two.
Mr. Lancaster told the New York Times in 2016: “I think at some point you have to drink water to soothe your vocal chords. Fortunately, the R&A understood this.”
