WHEN Malcolm Mitchell steps into the role of president of Scottish Golf, he will do so in the hope of helping to nurture some of the game’s up and coming stars of the future.

Developing sporting talent has always been at the forefront of his thinking and he will never forget his days representing and studying at Durham’s College of St Bede or his time as the assistant manager of Peterlee Leisure Centre – particularly his first night.

Since graduating from St Bede in 1969 he enjoyed a hugely successful career. He is serving currently as the vice president of Scottish Golf, having been given life membership in 1977.

Yet he still remembers his time in the North-East fondly, a smile and a chuckle as he recalled his time at St Bede and then when returning to County Durham in 1971 after initially heading to Colchester to teach PE.

“It was a vibrant sports centre, with a real community focus, but I will never forget my first night there,” said Malcolm. “I was given an executive flat, it overlooked the nearby school playing field. It wasn’t ready, so I slept in the office in the sports centre!

“The first night, I had let the girls out who had served in the cafeteria and they said ‘you had better lock yourself in because there had been a few break-ins’.

“I got back in the office and locked myself in. At 2am I heard a noise. The door handle moved, it was like the Hitchcock horror films, someone had tried to the door. I looked up and could see the guy walking away from the sports centre with a few others as they knocked hell into the vending machines.

“I rang 999, got the police and I was there with badminton racket … !”

Malcolm, of St Andrews, moved on to Skelmersdale less than a year later before heading onto become the first regional secretary of the PGA despite two ‘hysterical’ interviews.

He was two hours late for the first because of delayed trains and the second he went to Prestwick rather than Glasgow airport, where he was spotted with two cats in his car boot and standing in his underwear (he was changing) in the hotel toilet by one of the men due to interview him. He still landed the job – and proved a successful appointment.

In addition to starting what is now known as the Tartan Tour, he introduced innovations and established training seminars for assistants and obtained television coverage for the PGA Scottish Championship.

Such work earned him honorary life membership and, after going on to work as the PGA’s No 2 at its Belfry base, he went onto hold a vital role with Rank Xerox; so those years at St Bede in Durham served him well.

The 70-year-old, who plays off a “very commercial 13”, said: “At Durham I wandered round the sports clubs in my fresher year, I was told if you joined the golf club you get associate membership of Brancepeth Castle, a lovely course, for a pound. I played for the university for three years, captained them, so I got my pound paid for! I played every other sport too while I was there. I had a great time.”

Alongside Malcolm’s successful business career, he has always maintained his love for golf. “I have been playing at St Andrews now for 60-odd years,” said the former captain of the New Golf Club (2000).

“I have met great people, I have two great photos, four of them on there are the greatest golfers in the world: Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and me are on one, taken by Barbara Nicklaus, and the other is Arnold Palmer when I was captain.

“Growing up in St Andrews you appreciate why everyone holds St Andrews with so much affection. When I was a schoolboy I remember seeing Japanese tourists arrive, they paid their green fees, filmed each other with 16mm cameras in about 1964 driving off at the first. They had rented clubs, teed off and then walked away. They had come all the way just to tee off at the first at St Andrews. That was my first impression of it being incredible.”

Despite all of the work he has put into the sport, when he becomes president, due in 2019, he will still do his best to help the game grow. He said: “I want the star golfers coming through to be giving encouragement to the younger ones behind them.

“I want those to make a difference. Spending time with someone costs you nothing. It might be that moment or that chat that helps produce a star of the future.”