Final Shot with James Robinson

The former Executive Director of Hong Kong Land talks to Charles McLaughlin about his best ever round and the most memorable moment on a golf course

Do you have a favourite course?

This is an easy choice for me.  The Old Course at St. Andrews, which I have been so lucky to have played several times with Chris Underwood, who grew up in St. Andrews and lived for many years in Hong Kong and Asia.  Touring Scotland twice in the mid-1990s with many friends from The Discovery Bay Golf Club was and still is one of my most favourite "bucket-list" vacations.

What has been your most memorable moment on a golf course?

Again, this goes back to my first "bucket-list" golf trip to Scotland in the summer of 1993.  Near the end of our week-long trip, Chris Underwood had organised a very competitive group of four-ball matches on the Old Course between our touring Discovery Bay Golf Club team and a team from the Royal and Ancient which included Chris's father.  I was paired-up with Jim Gosney, a Seattle-based newspaper journalist, who had flown into Scotland to be part of our tour.  We were having a great match with two stalwarts of the R&A, and Jim and I were leading one-up going into the famous "Road Hole", the par-4, 17th. I pulled my tee-shot slightly to the left across the dog-leg right fairway and found myself with a decent lie in the sparse rough at about 190-200 yards out. I took a deep breath, pulled out my trusty 5-iron and crushed-it dead straight to eight feet below the hole.  And with my tapping in for par, we won the match 2/1 and the overall team match!  Months later and after we had all gone our ways home, Jim Gosney sent me an autographed copy of his book Gosney, For all Seasons in which he wrote, "To Jim Robinson, from the admiring witness to the finest 5-iron ever hit on the Road Hole at St. Andrews."

Who would be in your dream fourball?

Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Jordan Spieth.  All gentleman golfers with great short games and massive competitive drive, who loved to play the Open Championship in Great Britain.  And of course, they have been wonderful world-wide ambassadors for this great game we all love to play.

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