Clive Edginton served as Captain of the R&A from September 2019 until September 2021. The OMGS is fortunate to have someone who has reached this pinnacle in the sport within its family. His initial appointment as Captain was extended due to the Coronavirus pandemic giving him the rare privilege of serving for two calendar years.
The article below comes from the R&A website at his renewed appointment:
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews has announced that Clive Edginton will serve a second term as Captain in 2020/21 2019/20. Mr Edginton took office in September 2019 and has been nominated for the 2020/21 term as well due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.
It is only the second occasion since the club was founded in 1754 that a captain has served two successive terms, the first being Major John Murray Belshes in 1835 and 1836.
“This is a difficult time for all of us in the midst of this pandemic, but I am happy that I can continue to serve the club as we look positively to the future,” said Edginton.
Born in Walton-on-Thames, Mr Edginton was educated at Malvern College and Oxford University, graduating in 1973 with a degree in law and a Blue for golf. After a successful business career in the City of London, latterly as Chief Executive and then Chairman of Tindall Riley, a specialist insurance management company, he retired in 2014. He has since been a non-executive director and now consultant to the Medical Defence Union.
Mr Edginton became a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1997. He served on the Rules of Golf Committee from 2000 to 2004 and was its Deputy Chairman from 2002 to 2004 when he also sat on the Joint Rules Committee with the USGA. He was Chairman of the Amateur Status Committee from 2007 to 2011 during which time The R&A and the USGA produced the first unified Amateur Status Code. He was elected to the General Committee of the Club in 2014 and became Chairman of the General Committee and of the R&A’s principal companies from September 2015 until September 2018.
Mr Edginton’s home club is St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey where he became a member at the age of eight. He has served St George’s Hill as Committee Member, Captain, Director and Trustee. He has been Club Champion on four occasions and is a nine-time winner of the club’s scratch Gold Medal. At various times he has also been Captain of the South Eastern Junior Golfing Society, the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society, the Moles Golfing Society and the Old Malvernian Golfing Society, for whom he played more than 100 matches in the Halford Hewitt.
Aged 67, Mr Edginton currently plays to a handicap of eight. He is married to Debbie, who is a member of both St George’s Hill and The St Rule Club. They have two children, Robert and Claire, and two grandchildren.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews holds a unique position in golf. Established in 1754, it evolved through two and a half centuries as a leading authority in the world game.
As the Club celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2004 it devolved responsibility for the administration of the Rules of Golf, the running of The Open and other key events, and the development of the game in existing and emerging golfing nations, to a newly formed group of companies collectively known as The R&A.
As a separate entity The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews remains a private golf club with a worldwide membership of over 2,400 Members.