For the past 40 years, his unmistakable voice has been the last heard by each Open Champion - from Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Sir Nick Faldo to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy - before they embarked on their journey to golfing immortality.
But this week, official starter Ivor Robson will call time on his own iconic career as part of golf’s oldest Major, having become an Open Championship institution in his own right.
Robson is due to retire as the European Tour’s official starter after the 2015 season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, in November, two months after he celebrates his 75th birthday, bringing down the curtain on a lifetime in golf that has made him a treasured part of the game’s folklore.
Yet it is his close association with The Open Championship that has entered him into the wider public consciousness. He may never have lifted a Claret Jug, but Robson has, in his own way, become nearly as synonymous with The Open as the famous trophy itself; a rare constant in golf’s ever-changing landscape.
His melodic Scottish accent, immaculate green blazer and tie, and trademark expressions – “I’ll let you go now” and “On the tee” – have been part of The Open’s unique makeup since 1975, the year Tom Watson lifted the Claret Jug at the first attempt.
Fittingly, both he and Watson will this week bid an emotional farewell to The Open at the Home of Golf, the Old Course at St Andrews. While Watson is rightly destined for a hero’s reception when he makes that sentimental last walk over the Swilcan Bridge, Robson’s preference is for a more reserved exit.
“It will be an emotional occasion,” he admitted, ahead of his 41st consecutive Open Championship. “But St Andrews is a difficult course, because you have them coming up 18 too, so as soon as a player on the 18th plays his second shot, you have to get them going. There won’t be chance to get emotional or sentimental. Nothing will keep my attention away from the job. You can’t afford to let anything do that, and it won’t.”
A former club professional in Scotland, Robson sold golf shafts on the ranges at European Tour events, which eventually led him to his calling in life as the official starter of The European Tour, and with it The Open. From the outset, his distinct starting style has always been deliberately direct.
“My style has never changed,” he said. “I’ve always kept it simple. The public knows more about the player than you do. Always treat the public with the respect they deserve, because they are knowledgeable, so don’t try to be clever.
“Just keep it simple: the game number, on the tee, where he is from and their name. That is all they need to know. Keep it simple, and get them moving. The players want to get off the tee as well, so you haven’t got time to fool about because ten or 11 minute intervals really isn’t that long.
“I suppose ‘On the tee’ has become my trademark. At the start, there was no-one else to tell me how to do it. So I just had to get on with it.”
It is a unique style that has become revered and adored, as well as impersonated, by players and fans alike the world over. So, while Robson will unquestionably miss doing the job he loves, he will also be missed, but he insists the time is right to pass on the microphone.
“The Open has been a massive part of my life, but there is no-one bigger than the game,” he said. “I’m part of a team and we all help to keep the event running smoothly. Yes, it’s my last, but The Open goes on and it will continue to be run well.
“St Andrews is a perfect place for me to bow out. I’ve got osteoarthritis in my back and joints and I can’t go on for ever. When I was told by Peter Dawson that The Open would be at St Andrews in 2015, I thought ‘right, we will call it a day there’. It’s the right place to stop and the decision has been made.”
On the surface, Robson’s role may appear straight-forward, largely due to his own professionalism. But then consider that he will arrive at The Old Course on Thursday morning an hour before the first tee time of 6.32am and will be unable to leave his post until the last group heads down the first fairway nearly ten hours later at 4.13pm, with just 11 minute intervals between groups.
“I’m finding the job more difficult, as it is physically demanding,” he said. “Standing on the tee all day is tough, and you need a high degree of concentration. Rolex are a very professional company and they demand high standards. So I try to do it the way it should be done.
“I arrive an hour before the first tee, check my microphone, check all the cards. You have to be careful drinking water or eating, if you stand on the tee for that long. Luckily at St Andrews the clubhouse is just behind the first tee if you really need to go to the toilet and there is a 20 minute gap around midday, when you can go, but that is it. I don’t have big dinners, or go to the bar in the evening. You can’t. It is too demanding a job. You wouldn’t last long if you did.”
Robson has also been the official starter at every Ryder Cup on European soil since the 1981 contest at Walton Heath, and he described the cauldron of noise that surrounded him on the first tee at Gleneagles last year as “deafening but fantastic”. It is The Open, however, that he admits will miss most.
“I don’t know how I will feel when I watch The Open next year,” he said. “I had to miss the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this year due to illness, and I missed not being there. So when I’m sat at home watching The Open on television next year, of course I will miss it. Of course I will. But you can’t go on forever, you have to stop at some point, and this is the right time for me.”
While he only spends a short time in the presence of each player on the first tee, Robson classes them all as friends, and concedes it will be strange to part company after so many years and memories.
“I’ve had a wonderful time with all the players,” he remarked. “They are a credit to the game, they really are. They give a lot of enjoyment to people.
“You normally have a few minutes of conversation with them on the first tee. If they want to talk, that’s great, but if they don’t, that’s fine too. I’ve got to concentrate on what I’m doing as well, and keep to time. I need to make sure they have everything they need – their card, pin placements, local rules – and get them off on time.
“We have had a lot of laughs over the years. At some events they have taken the mickey out of me, but I don’t care - it’s just them relaxing. Some of them will stand in front of the clock, or pretend to clear their throat and say ‘Ok gentlemen, let’s go’, or poke you with their clubs. But it is all good fun, and the crowd enjoy it too. You don’t tend to get it so much at The Open though, because it is serious. People are just trying to get the ball on the tee without shaking.
“Trevino was always fooling around though. He liked being a clown, in the nicest possible way. He was a show man, but it was really to get him relaxing in his own way. All the players have their own mannerisms, and you have to get to know them. Some won’t get to the tee until the last minute, others don’t want to talk. I’ve had some laughs over the past 41 years, and I’ve seen a lot. I have some wonderful memories. It really has been a joy.”
One player who has given Robson so many of those treasured moments is five-time Claret Jug winner Watson. The American is, therefore, perhaps best-placed to lead the many tributes to ‘Irreplaceable Ivor’.
“Ivor started his announcing at The 1975 Open Championship, which was my first Open too,” said Watson. “So we came in together and we are going out together. He is iconic and he has been a big part of The Open Championship.”
