Masters trailblazer

Sometimes it snows in April, a man once sang, and this past week, Ronan Rafferty has got to know just how true that is.

The other day, greenkeepers were clearing sheets of the white stuff off the King’s Course at Gleneagles, only a week after the region recorded its highest temperature ever for the month of March.

Rafferty these days lives only a couple of miles from the renowned course, his second wife Yvonne being Scottish and Rafferty’s love for the game and its grandest courses meaning he simply had to be situated somewhere near one. He often takes corporate groups there, treating them to some of his golfing insights and geniality as well as some of the finest wines from his impressive cellar. The corporate outings are something he’s totally comfortable at, just as he’s now comfortable with the fact his own career has fluctuated more wildly than even the recent weather patterns in Scotland.