Golf: Dalmeny club aims to forge further US links

Dalmeny Golf Club secretary Wullie Ruffle, centre, is flanked by two Medinah officials

THE most famous one may well sit on the 17th fairway at Augusta but there’s another Eisenhower tree on a golf course in Scotland and its members are planning to use a fallen branch to make a presentation to Tom Watson at next year’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

It follows a similar hand-crafted barrel made from weather debris from the tree at Dalmeny Golf Club, near South Queensferry, being given to Medinah officials at last year’s event to mark Eisenhower’s connection with the club.

That barrel now sits proudly in Medinah’s ‘Heritage Collection’ and the link between the two clubs will be strengthened with an official invitation from Lord and Lady Roseberry to American officials attending the 2014 Ryder Cup to visit Dalmeny House.