Good returns for the R&A

The Royal and Ancient Club, organisers of the Open Championship and ruling body for most of the golfing world, expect to reach £50million in development funding before the end of this decade.

Reporting an operating profit of £9.1million for 2006, chief executive Peter Dawson said: "The Open at Hoylake was both a great championship and a strong commercial success.

"We forecast £50m in golf development funding and other governance benefits for the game by the end of the decade when we adopted corporate ownership structures in 2004 and we will deliver on this ahead of time. Our golf development funding totalled £4.5million in 2006 (up £800,000) and our governance contribution to the sport is valued at a further £4million for the year."

Grants totalling £2.9million were awarded to external golf development bodies, while the R&A's founding club, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, made the last in a series of asset allocations to the R&A Foundation, taking its net assets to £13.3million.

The R&A now have their first regional director in Asia and there is an agreed programme with the China Golf Association to train over 100 new referees.

A total of 57 broadcasters aired Open Championship coverage, reaching 410million households in 162 countries and making the Open one of the world's largest annual televised sports events.