[PHOTO: Getty Images]
“On the tee from USA, Tiger Woods.”
The lilt was both unmistakable and comforting. For golf fans around the world, including the many Australians staying up late at night, the sound of Ivor Robson’s voice on the first tee was as much a staple of the Open Championship as pot bunkers and the claret jug. Yet Robson wasn’t just the official starter at The Open for 41 years before retiring in 2015 but a weekly part on the DP World Tour for more than four decades, ingratiating himself with officials and players the world over.
Overnight, Australian time, the R&A announced Robson had died at age 83. No cause was given.
“He was popular and well respected among all golfers who played in The Open, and I know that they will share in our sadness at the news,” Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive, said in a statement. “On behalf of all of us at the R&A, I would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to his wife of 61 years, Lesley, and the Robson family.”
During his career, Robson befriended generations of legendary golfers, from the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer to contemporaries Woods and Rory McIlroy. The BBC reported that he had announced the names of 18,995 players during his career at The Open.
Like fans, players, too loved to attempt to imitate Robson’s distinct delivery on the first tee.
After this week, the first tee will never sound the same again. 🎙https://t.co/jYB4iAHVND
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 21, 2015
Born in 1940 in England and living as an adult in the Scottish town of Moffat, Robson worked his first Open Championship in 1975 at Carnoustie. It was there that he set a routine that hardly varied in the years after. For early rounds, Robson would arrive at the first tee shortly before the first tee-times about 6:30am and remain at his post until past 4pm. Remarkably, he never missed a tee-time in his years of work.
Ivor Robson. 1940 – 2023.
A voice synonymous with The Open. pic.twitter.com/NTEvkrggQl
— The Open (@TheOpen) October 17, 2023
Urban legend had it that Robson never took a bathroom break while on duty, something he debunked during his swansong at St Andrews in 2015.
“You have to be careful drinking water or eating, if you stand on the tee that long,” he said. “Luckily at St Andrews the clubhouse is just behind the first tee if you really need to go to the toilet. I don’t have big dinners, or go to the bar in the evening. You can’t. It’s too demanding a job. You wouldn’t last long if you did.”
Tiger Woods, Gary Player among golfers paying tribute to Ivor Robson
