2026 R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal: Martin Shines brightest of all on Golden Sunday in St Andrews

Late on Sunday night Wolverhampton's Aaron Rai lifted the Silver Wanamaker Trophy, ending 107 years of waiting for the next English winner of the PGA Championship. Rai produced a memorable charge overt the final 10 holes at Aronimink Golf Club in the Birthplace of the United States of America, to claim his first Major title and the biggest win of his career. Meanwhile, 3,500 miles away in the Birthplace of this great game a young, prodigious talent was claiming the biggest title of his fledgling career.

Martin Shone, a member of the St Leonards Golf Programme and St Andrews Golf Club, originally from Switzerland, shot a quite remarkable round of 66 on the Old Course in the second round of the R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal to claim a stunning victory in extremely tricky conditions. The sun shone on Sunday, and so did Martin.

60 of the best club golfers which are members of local golf clubs teed off on Sunday morning with hopes of qualifying for the second round in the afternoon, and competing for one of the oldest titles in golf - the R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal, first contested in 1890. Alexander 'Sandy' Herd won the first edition, and became The Open Champion 12 years later in 1902, and Herd, Auchterlonie, Anderson, Mackenzie, Greig and Ayton are among the most famous to have worn the medal in the early years. Mitchell, Lawrie and Reid took up the baton in the 50's, 60', 70's and 80's, then Hastie dominated the early 1990's, winning four in a row culminating with a remarkable 36-hole score of 132 (-12), a record which still stands to this day (1993). More recently Bunch, Ireland, Dickson, Shannly, Price, Paterson, , Mukherjee, and McGowan have stamped their class on this elite local tournament.

There is even a Hooper on the roll of honour (most certainly not related to yours truly).

Play began at 7am and it was a gloriously sunny morning, but it quickly became apparent that the conditions would be a lot trickier than the sunny scenes made it appear. A one-club wind blew from the West and made the approach to the first green far more demanding than the yardage would have otherwise suggested. We saw 3 players in the first 4 groups of the day find the Swilcan Burn with their approach shots to the opening hole, and out of the first dozen groups only Colin Donaldson-Nixon made a birdie.

The R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal has always featured talented golfers from across the age spectrum, and of course, as the name suggests, they are locals, who also have a lot of experience playing golf on the Old Course. So it should never surprise anyone that the scoring is pretty good. Correction. Very good.

The conditions in the morning were tricky but once again the best players found a way of putting a score together around the Old Course, with four players breaking par. Ewan Scott and Craig McGann shot rounds of 71, and Charlie Gillespie shot an excellent round of 70, before Marcus Rickard came in with an even more impressive round of 69.

13 players made the cut, and would begin their second rounds at 3pm.

Meanwhile the Ladies and Juniors competitions got underway during the gap between the final men's tee-time and the men's second round beginning, and conditions became more difficult, as the tricky wind of the morning strengthened to possibly a 2-club from the west, making the first play more difficult and making many of the holes play in a very tricky cross wind.

With 3 shots covering the field for the second round the Gold Medal was anyone's, but in turned out that it was only one's. Martin Shone produced a performance for the ages, and shot a round which was 4 better than anyone else in the field during the second round, claiming the title by the same margin. The young Swiss golfer made birdies at the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 10th and 14th, and set himself up for a fantastic second round, but of course not being a professional event none of the 13 players had much idea as to what others were doing. Pars at 15, 16 and 17 saw him head to the 18th at 4-under for the tournament, so Martin probably presumed he needed a birdie at the 18th to take the title, he did more than that, driving the green and rolling in the putt for a spectacular eagle 2 to shoot 6-under-par, and in the end claim the title comfortably.

On Instagram Martin said: "So happy to put my name on the winners list of such a prestigious event, really happy to have come back after a quadruple bogey in the first round, accompanied by 7 birdies. Made the cut on the number and shot 66 in the final round to win it by four with an eagle 2 on the 18th.

A huge thank you to @harryjacks26 for being on the bag all day, couldn’t have done it without you. Also to everyone who came to support during the final few holes and @fintanbonnergolf for always supporting and helping me out when needed.

A beautiful way to end my time at St Leonards and a day I will never forget!" #dream

Martin now will compete in amateur events across Europe ahead of his move to the United States and joining the University of Minnesota Golf Programme in 2027, and follow a similar path to another previous winner of the R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal.

St Andrews' John Paterson, member of the New Golf Club, won the 2019 Gold Medal with a two-round total of 137, one shot better than Martin, and went on to attend the University of Colorado before returning to Scotland to become a professional golfer.

Since joining the Tartan Pro Tour in 2024 John has won the St Andrews Classic and posted a decent number of high finishes, but one of the stepping stones on his journey came at the Fairmont St Andrews some four years ago when he played in final qualifying for The 150th Open. He was drawn alongside Englishman, Aaron Rai. At the time Rai was ranked 127th in the world, and without a win in nearly 2 years, which meant he had to qualify for The Open. Both Paterson and Rai failed to qualify, but four years on, and John has played in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and Rai has just won his first Major - the PGA Championship.

It just shows what is possible for a young talent from Switzerland. Winning the R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal can be an indication of even greater achievements to follow, just remember, the first ever winner of this tournament went on to win The Open in 1902 and become an icon of St Andrews golf - Sandy Herd.

Mathilda Orring won the Ladies Gold Medal with a round of 71 on the Old Course, and Cameron Arnold won the Junior Gold Medal with a round of 75.

More on the 2026 R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal, as well as photography from the day itself to come soon

With thanks for Peter Malpas of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and David Connor of the St Andrews Links Trust.

The 2026 R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medal was played on Sunday 17 May, 2026

SHANK, by Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association, and founder of SHANK, originally St Andrews Golf Magazine. Accredited to cover 12 editions of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 3 Senior Opens, 3 Women's Opens, 2019 Solheim Cup, 2021 Hero Open, 2021 Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open, 2023 St Andrews Bay Championship, 2025 St Andrews Links Collegiate, 2013 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, 2014 BMW International Open, 2014 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, 2014 Junior Ryder Cup, and 2015 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Matt has covered local golf in St Andrews like no other journalist, photographer or outlet over the last 12 years, covering 4 R&A Local Clubs' Gold Medals, 4 St Andrews Links Trophies, 4 St Rule Trophies, the European Amateur Championship at the Duke's Course, the Scottish Amateur at Downfield Golf Club, 2 editions of Final Qualifying for The Open at the Fairmont St Andrews and several other club events at the New Golf Club. Matt also covers the Tartan Pro Tour, paying particular attention to the local St Andrews Golfers who are competing on the tour, and whom he has built a working relationship with over the last decade and more.

Matt has also researched and written several articles on the history of golf in St Andrews, and the home of golf's impact on the development of the sport and industry around the world. He has also conducted several interviews for the platform with the leading names in golf including Rory McIlroy, Gary Player, Sir Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson, Paul Lawrie, Ewen Murray, David Livingstone and David Cannon among many others. Matt is also a well-known and respected photographer covering golf and sports, and also offering a wide-range of social photography services .