Smash hit

In return for an undisclosed sum, the Links Trust has allowed discreet advertising on scorecards and around the clubhouses as well as its being used in advertising and promotion in the US and on CNN. The advertising and promotion is aimed at golfers in the US and, perhaps more specifically, in China and Japan. Allianz will also sponsor the Links Trophy, one of the leading annual competitions for amateurs played over the Old Course.

"You will hardly notice the difference here" Alan McGregor, chief executive of the Links Trust, said. "It will be very discreet and I assure you the golf courses will be untouched. But it is an opportunity for us to boost our profile in certain areas of the world. The North American market is very important to us. We reckon that half of those who visit us are from the US and that means about 80,000 rounds annually."

And what was the reasoning for Allianz to enter such a project? "This was an opportunity to partner someone who is the very essence of the game" Stephen Althaus, the firm's head of global brand management, said. "St Andrews is the home of golf. Golf is very underestimated as a promotional tool. It fits our image of wanting to be involved with someone for a long time. We need a story to tell and we think we have one here."

Nothing much changes at St Andrews without close scrutiny by the townspeople who guard their rights more closely than a poker player guards his cards. So far this change at the Home of Golf seems to have gone without too much dissension. But it might be worth raising one point about a deal that seems to be very advantageous to Allianz. The Links Trust,the custodian of the links on behalf of the Fife Council, is a charitable non profit making body. What will it do with any money that is left over?

Olympic golf struggling to see the Woods for the trees

This comes under the heading of "not what the group charged with trying to get golf into the 2016 Olympics wanted to hear."

In less than a month the International Golf Federation will present the case for golf to be included in the Olympics to an International Olympic Committee meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. The decision as to whether or not the sport has been successful in securing one of the two places on offer in the Olympics in seven years will be announced in Helsinki in October.

One of the problems the International Golf Federation faces is convincing the authorities that there is real interest among its competitors in competing in an Olympic Games. Does Tiger Woods really want to play is a typical question? What about Phil Mickelson, currently the world No 2, or Sergio Garcia?

An insight into Woods's thinking has been given by Vera Shimanskaya, the Russian who won an Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2000 Olympics and is now attempting a new career as a professional golfer. Shimanskaya bumped into Woods while at a gym recently and having introduced herself she asked him: “Do you want to be an Olympic gold medallist in golf?”

Woods replied: “I’ll have to think about it.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?

Shane Lowry turns pro

Thus ends the most asked golfing question of the past few days. Will he or won't he. It means that the 22-year-old Irish amateur who won the Irish Open last Sunday has finally decided to cash in on his undoubted talent and compete in next week's European Open at The London Club. It also means he will not compete in the Walker Cup in September.

It could not have been an easy decision to make for a young man of 22 who was almost certainly going to turn pro anyway. Everyone in golf seemed to have a view and many of them were that he would be mad not to change his status immediately and start earning some money.

But consider two contrary views that were expressed by people whose voices and thoughts matter in the days while Lowry was making up his mind.

Padraig Harrington: "Shane has his whole life ahead of him. What is three months in the grand scheme of things? I have won three major championships but the experience of playing in three Walker Cups before I turned pro are very important to me. If he believes he is good enough, and winning the Irish Open says he is good enough, he ain't going to be worried about turning up for $40,000 for last place in the Bridgestone event in the US. He has to believe in himself and turning pro is not believing in himself. Staying and playing the Walker Cup and trusting that your game will be as good from September onwards is believing in yourself."

Tony Disley, chairman of the Walker Cup selectors: "we are not anti pros because we realise that 90 per cent of the amateurs are going to turn pro anyway. And obviously we would love to have him in the Walker Cup team. But we are anxious that he should turn pro at the right time. We know of a few cases of promising amateurs who turned pro too soon and were not heard of again. There are not many cases of players who turned pro too late. The thing is that because Shane won the tournament he can play in certain pro events and the top amateur events and to spend the next few months doing that would not be a waste of time for him."