Kevan Whitson is awarded PGA’s highest professional honour

An Edinburgh man has been awarded the PGA’s highest honour for a career in golf that has included him being at the heart of a “sleeping giant” being awakened.

Kevan Whitson, one of three latest recipients of Master Professional status, became one of the youngest pros in the history of the PGA when he qualified as an assistant at Royal Burgess in his home city.

He then had a spell as the head pro at Turnhouse before moving to Royal County Down to take up the top post at the Northern Ireland venue in 1991.

Whitson only intended to be on the other side of the Irish Sea for a maximum of seven years but is still at the Newcastle course, where he is now both the head pro and golf operations manager.

“It is quite an honour,” said Whitson, who cut his golfing teeth at Monktonhall as he grew up in Musselburgh, of becoming a Master Professional.

“I remember getting the Five Star Award from the PGA of Europe and thinking ‘wow’ when I saw that people like Seve Ballesteros had also received it.

“Getting this one now is equally nice as it’s decided by a 16-person council made up of PGA officials, R&A officials and people from Birmingham University.

“They look at your achievements over the years and they either make you a Class A, Advanced Pro or a Fellow of the PGA, with the Master Pro the top one.

“It definitely makes you quite reflective, which is a bit scary. But it’s really rewarding, having made that step to come across the water from Edinburgh.”

In his time at Royal County Down, Whitson has provided valuable input to numerous top events being staged, including the 2007 Walker Cup and the Irish Open eight years later.

“When I came here in ’91, Royal County Down was a sleeping giant but, by the same token, you were still coming over to what was a fairly unsettled country,” he added.

“It’s been a fabulous journey with the club as it has flew up the rankings and I was very fortunate to have some wonderful assistants working for me who have gone to do pretty amazing things themselves.

“We have kept growing on a world stage, getting more and more attention around the world. The visitor base now is incredible. We have 10,000 visitors a year, but we could sell it out three times over.

“When we first came across, it was going to be for a five to seven-year stint. But, as the club kept growing, I was working with a lot of good players at the end of that time and also coaching the Ulster ladies’ team.

“Things just kept happening for me over here. I was very active in the Irish PGA and, as the club started getting bigger and bigger, my role changed from being the head pro to being the head pro and golf operations manager.

“I set about designing a caddie programme here. We have over 100 caddies now and it’s a programme that is being used all over Ireland.

“The job has kept giving me more and more things to do and, before you know it, you’ve been here 30 years next year.”

Whitson was followed across the Irish Sea by one of his assistants at Turnhouse, Neil Manchip, who is now the Irish national coach.

Through that role, Manchip started working with Shane Lowry when he was an amateur and was instrumental in him winning The Open at Royal Portrush last summer.

“Neil was my assistant at Turnhouse at the same time as Euan McIntosh,” recalled Whitson. “He asked to come across with me as I had to get a senior assistant rather than trainees and Neil said to me, ‘I can do that job’ even though he wasn’t qualified.

“His acumen at that stage was more on the shop side, having studied business at college in Edinburgh. He wasn’t really interested in coaching then the next thing he started working on his own game to become a decent player then started on coaching after that.

“He’s been fantastic as the Irish national coach. He’s brought a different flavour to it, as opposed to doing hard instruction. He’s more about coaching the person themself and his style certainly works.”

Manchip looks as though he’s now in with the bricks with Irish golf and, by the sounds of things, Whitson also looks set to see out his career outside Scotland.

“Turnhouse was very formative,” he said of where it all started, really. “I was a young guy when I got the job there, following Brian McKenzie into that post.

“At that stage, there weren’t many pros in Edinburgh who’d got a grasp out of making money out of coaching the game. I set about teaching and got up to about 40 lessons per week. I was extremely busy.

“It was extremely competitive back in those days when golf discount houses were setting up. You had to find a way of doing things and coaching became a big thing. That helped me coming across the water as well.”

Whitson still keeps in touch with the aforementioned McIntosh, who won the Scottish Amateur at the age of 49 in 2018 and is now waiting to make his debut on the Staysure Seniors’ Tour in a second spell in the pro ranks.

“The first time Euan walked in the door at the pro shop at Turnhouse, I think he was 11,” said Whitson. “We had an amazing squad of boys back then and I think Neil was struggling to get on the team.

“Euan was always special. He was always quite an angry wee fellow, even at 11 years of age. But he had that real determined attitude. He had a fantastic talent.

“I remember him getting to the final of the Scottish Boys against Alan Tait then turning pro. It was lovely working with him and we’ve stayed close ever since.”