St Andrews has become the first Open Championship venue to be awarded the prestigious GEO Certified ecolabel as a mark of recognition for its efforts in sustainability.

The award, which was given at a special presentation by GEO chief executive Jonathan Smith, was presented to Euan Loudon, chief executive of St Andrews Links Trust, the firm which manages all seven courses at the home of golf, including The Old Course and The Castle Course.

“We take our duty to manage St Andrews Links sustainably as a golfing resource for future generations extremely seriously,” said Loudon. “Over the years we have won awards for the measures we have implemented and developed but this is certainly the most rigorous certification process we have gone through. We are delighted to achieve the GEO Certified ecolabel and we are focused on continuing to introduce new sustainable methods and practices across the breadth of operations at the links in the years ahead.”

Mike Wood GEOSA, who wrote the verification reports, praised the Trust’s commitment to social responsibility, describing their efforts as a “standard bearer for 21st century good practice in golf management”.