Mark Darbon has been appointed Chief Executive of The R&A and secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

Peter  McEvoy OBE (born 22 March 1953) was a leading British amateur golfer for many years, and is now a golf course designer, golf administrator, and golf writer.

McEvoy was born in London, but spent much of his childhood living near Turnberry where his father was a member of the famous links course. Even after moving back to London, he was able to play at the famous course.

McEvoy won The Amateur Championship in both 1977 and 1978, which kicked off an impressive amateur golf career. He was a member of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team five times between 1977 and 1989. He also played on five Eisenhower Trophy teams, including 1988 when he won the individual event and GB&I won the team event. He was the low amateur at The Open Championship in 1978 and 1979, and was the first British amateur golfer to make the cut at the Masters Tournament, which he did in 1978. He also won the Lytham Trophy in 1979, the Brabazon Trophy in 1980 (tied with Ronan Rafferty), and was runner-up at the Amateur Championship in 1987.

McEvoy was named captain of the Great Britain & Ireland teams for the 1999 and 2001 Walker Cups, which won both times; this was the first time GB&I ever had consecutive wins in the event. McEvoy was also captain of the victorious Great Britain & Ireland team for the 1998 Eisenhower Trophy tournament, making McEvoy the only person to win the individual event, the team event as a player, and the team event as a captain. He captained again in 2000, and GB&I finished in second place. In 2002, when Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales began sending separate teams to the tournament instead of a combined team, McEvoy was the captain of the English team.

McEvoy has been involved with golf course design for over 20 years, with his own company and in collaboration with others. He has worked on numerous courses around the world, including Fota Island Golf Course, which hosted the 2001 Irish Open and other Irish tournaments.

In 2002, McEvoy was named Chairman of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews Selection Committee, which chooses the members for Great Britain & Ireland amateur teams competing in various international events (such as the Walker Cup).

The Association of Golf Writers named McEvoy the winner of the 1978 Golf Writers' Trophy, after he won his second Amateur Championship and made the cut at the Masters. The trophy is "awarded each year to the individual, born or resident in Europe, or the European team, who have made the most outstanding contribution to golf in the preceding 12 months." He won again in 2001, as the award was given to the victorious 2001 Walker Cup team.^[2] The English Golf Union named McEvoy as the winner of the 1999 Gerald Micklem Award, given to those who have "made an outstanding contribution to further the interests of amateur golf in England." McEvoy was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on the 2003 Queen's New Year's Honours List, for "services to golf."

In February 2008, McEvoy devised and launched PowerPlay Golf, a shortened version of golf in a bid to create golf's version of Twenty20 cricket.

McEvoy lives in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in England.

• European Amateur Team Championship (representing England): 1977 (individual leader), 1979 (winners), 1981 (winners), 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989
• Walker Cup (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1989 (winners), 1999 (non-playing captain), 2001 (non-playing captain)
• Eisenhower Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1988 (team winners and individual leader)
• St Andrews Trophy (representing Great Britain and Ireland): 1978 (winners), 1980 (winners), 1984 (winners), 1986 (winners), 1988 (winners)

Brown played on the European Tour from 1976 to 1992. He won four times on the tour between 1978 and 1985. His first win was in the 1978 Carrolls Irish Open where he finished a stroke ahead of Seve Ballesteros and John O'Leary. He had further wins in the 1983 KLM Dutch Open, the 1984 Glasgow Open and the 1985 Four Stars Celebrity Pro-Am. He often performed well in the British PGA Championship, finishing runner-up or joint runner-up four times between 1978 and 1983, three times behind Nick Faldo and then behind Seve Ballesteros. Brown finished in the top-10 of European Tour Order of Merit in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1983. His best season was 1978 when he finished fourth in the Order of Merit.

Brown gained his PGA Tour card at The 1983 PGA Tour Qualifying School. He played mainly on the PGA Tour from 1984 to early 1989, winning the Southern Open in 1987. Brown struggled in the early part of his first season, 1984, but from August he made the cut in his last 10 tournaments. Despite this he was 151st in the money list coming into the final event of the year, the Pensacola Open, and unlikely to retain his card by finishing in the top 125. Leading after three rounds, he eventually finished joint runner-up, lifting him to 112th in the money list. 1987 was his best season on the tour with six top-10 finishes. Brown had a poor start to the 1989 PGA Tour season and played the remainder of the season in Europe, losing his PGA Tour card. He continued to play on the European Tour but had relatively little success and retired in 1992.

Brown played in five Ryder Cup matches, in 1977, 1979, 1983, 1985, and 1987. He had a 4-9-0 win–loss–tie record, including two wins and two losses in singles matches. He was vice-captain under Mark James in the 1999 matches. In 1977 Brown switched his allegiance from England to Scotland and later represented Scotland in a number of team competitions, including the World Cup on four occasions. Playing with Sandy Lyle they finished second in the 1979 World Cup. Brown played in the Open Championship 14 times. His best performance was in the 1980 Open at Muirfield where he was tied for second place after three rounds but a final round of 76 left him in a tie for sixth place.

 After retiring from playing, Brown has spent much of his time as a TV golf commentator and analyst, for the BBC and Fox Sports. He also worked as part of the commentary team for the international coverage of the European Tour on selected events. He started his TV work with Sky Sports, working on their PGA Tour and European Tour coverage in the early 1990s.

Brown was appointed Member of The British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to sport and to broadcasting.

Nairn Dunbar Golf Club Overseas memberships

Thinking of taking up golf??Come along to our Open/Fun Day on Sunday 29th September and have a look.