Top job for golfer Chris with the R&A

Mr Hilton has been nominated as captain by the past captains of the club and will begin his year in office with the traditional driving-in ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course in September.

A renowned lawyer, Mr Hilton was a board member throughout the establishment of what is now the global firm Eversheds Sutherland, leading its early international development and heading its shipping law department until his retirement in 2010.

Mr Hilton became a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrew’s in 2000 and chaired the rules committee from 2011 to 2015, when he played an important role in developing the Rules Modernisation initiative with the USGA with the revised Rules of Golf set to take effect in January 2019. He is currently a member of the general committee.

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Mr Hilton is a past captain of his home club, The Northumberland, and is a member of The Golf House Club, Elie, the New Club of St Andrew’s and Bamburgh Castle Golf Club. He is also a member of the Senior Golfers’ Society and has served as the captain and president of the Quayside Golfing Society.

Born in Newcastle, where he has been based for most of his life, Mr Hilton was educated at Fettes College, Cambridge University and Adelaide University.

He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear.

Aged 68, Mr Hilton is married to wife, Liz, and has a son, Michael, and daughter, Caroline, who resides in Auckland, New Zealand. An avid golfer, Mr Hilton plays to a handicap of eight and he and his wife enjoy regular visits to St Andrews where they own a property.