Tom ... meet the famous Jas Athwal

BRADFORD Golf Club member Jas Athwal met his golfing idol Tom Watson, above, on a recent trip to Royal Portrush, which will host the Open Championship next month. Athwal is one of the founder members of the Asian Golf Society and was the first Asian to be named captain of an English golf club when he took office at Waterton Park in 2000.

He is also a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and a board member at Welcome to Yorkshire. He was a guest of Doosan CEO David Clarkson at a Patron’s Day ahead of the Open Championship. Five-time champion Watson was at Royal Porthcawl in his role of global ambassador for The Open and played a hole with each of the groups.

Athwal says his favourite shot is a punched driver from the fairway, a shot he tried to describe to Watson, who is one of the finest exponents of links golf in the world.

“He struggled with it, but it does take a certain level of skill to pull it off,” quipped Athwal, who plays off nine at his Hawksworth-based home club.