R&A ambassadors serve as diplomats for game

Michelle Wie West is the latest R&A ambassador. Photo: David Cannon, Getty Images

The R&A has a proliferating number of what it calls ambassadors. The latest among them, Michelle Wie West (global development), came in at No. 9; the earlier editions being Pádraig Harrington, Wenchon Liang and Suzann Pettersen (Working for Golf); Tom Watson (Open Championship); Georgia Hall (Women and Girls into Golf); Zane Scotland (diversity); and Gareth Bale and Niall Horan preceding Wie West for global development.

In the Collins Dictionary, the word “ambassador” is described as “a diplomatic minister of the highest rank accredited as permanent representative to another country or sovereign.” Elsewhere, it is applied to America’s senior foreign service employees who, interestingly enough, can have salaries which exceed the maximum “but may not go over the salary set for the Vice President of the United States, which was $240,100 a year as of 2017.”

A couple of oft-repeated questions concerns what the R&A ambassadors get paid and...