David Llewellyn said he felt ‘very humble’ as he was appointed the 86th Captain of The PGA.
The 74-year-old Executive Head Professional at Carden Park succeeded David Scott at the Association’s Annual General Meeting on April 2 and joined a celebrated list of captains that includes Harry Vardon, JH Taylor, James Braid, Sir Henry Cotton, Peter Alliss, Dai Rees and Bernard Gallacher.
“It’s the greatest honour The PGA can bestow upon a golf professional – to ask them to be Captain of the Association,” he said. “I feel very humble and even now, having known about the appointment for a little while, I still get a bit of a tingle at the back of the neck.”
He added: “My responsibility is to uphold and support the values and philosophies of The PGA, but also to pass the message on to the younger generation. That’s what our job is – to spread the word of golf and encourage the next generation to play.”
In a career spanning more than five decades, Llewellyn has enjoyed enormous success both as a club professional and a tour player. He turned professional in 1968, working as an assistant to Tom Colinge at Olton Golf Club in Solihull, before playing on the newly formed European Tour in the early 1970s. He was rookie of the year in 1972.
After spells at Royal Malta Golf Club, Purley Chase Golf Club, and Thirsk and Northallerton Golf Club, he returned to tour life in 1984 and won the Biarritz Open in 1988. His four-round scoring record of 258 wasn’t beaten for 32 years. He won the Ivory Coast Open in 1985 and 1990, the Zambia Open in 1988, and the Motorola Classic in 1989, partnering with Ian Woosnam, the pair won the World Cup for Wales in 1987 and Llewellyn also competed in eight Open Championships between 1971 and 1989.
Returning to club life, he was a former Golf Union of Wales coach for five years and continues to coach professional players. He becomes PGA Captain 26 years after skippering the Great Britain & Ireland team that contested the PGA Cup in 2000. He is currently the Executive Head Professional at Carden Park, having joined the Cheshire club for a second time five years ago.
Despite continuing to play a prominent role in the game, he is excited about adding PGA Captaincy commitments to his diary.
He said: “It’s funny, when Alan White asked me if I’d like to do it, I said, ‘I’ve got to go and speak to my boss first’. Hamish Ferguson is CEO and General Manager of Carden Park and he worked for The PGA for three years. He jumped up, gave me a big hug, and said, ‘that’s the greatest honour you can have’.