Back before Golf Channel had the rights to air the PGA Tour, the European Tour was the only game in town for the network. And if you were like me and got up early on weekends to catch some Euro Tour action, then you got to know the lovely work of Renton Laidlaw. The Scot anchored the European Tour telecasts for a over a decade, bringing a still-developing tour into hundreds of thousands of homes each week.
Laidlaw is retiring from golf at the end of this year and earned kudos from outgoing European Tour chief executive George O'Grady at this past week's season-ending luncheon.
“Thank for your support of The European Tour, through European Tour Weekly and every form of broadcast we have had over the years. You have been a great friend to the Tour,” said O’Grady, according to the European Tour.
The retirement comes after over 55 years connected to the sport. Laidlaw started in golf in 1957 as a writer for the Edinburgh Evening News in 1957. He turned to the European Tour full-time in 1999. In 2014, he became the first non-American journalist to cover 40 Masters tournaments.
