'A one-off great big guy' - Ryder Cup player pays tribute to Scottish golfer

A Musselburgh man, Noon started out as a professional at the same time as Torrance, underlining his talent when winning the Scottish Assistants’ Championship at Dunbar in 1974.

He played on the European Tour for “about six years”, saying in an interview in 2009 that he had “played well in some British events” before beginning to “struggle with my putting” and calling time on his professional career when he was starting to “spend my own money to be on the tour”.

After being reinstated as an amateur, he won the South East District Open in 1983 and picked up four gold medals in the Scottish Area Team Championship with the Lothians. He played for Scotland in the 1991 Home Internationals at Lahinch.

Started his caddying career at Muirfield

Two years earlier, Noon reached the final of the 1989 Lothians Championship at Longniddry, losing out in the title decider by 2&1 to Kevin Hastings of Broomieknowe.

In the same year, he played in the 118th Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut but enjoyed being among nine players - Torrance was also one in the group - flying the Saltire in the game’s oldest major.

It was after he’d been made redundant by a firm in Leith Docks, where he worked for nearly 20 years as a project manager, that Noon started to do some caddying at Muirfield.

Recalling how he was reunited with Ryder Cup-winning captain Torrance, Noon said in the same interview: "My boy, Ross, played Daniel, Sam's son, in the Scottish Boys' Championship at Southerness and that's where we bumped into each other again.

"We met again when the British Seniors' Open was held at Muirfield in 2007. Sam didn't know I was caddying and he asked me to give him my telephone number.

“We started working together around the Dunhill Links Championship later that year and the highlight was when Sam won the European Seniors' Tour Championship out in Spain (in 2008).”

Noon took immense pride in seeing his son achieve a bit of success in the game at amateur level and kept in touch with lots of his former Lothians team-mates, including Stephen Gallacher.

“Jim was a one-off great big guy,” said the former Ryder Cup player and four-time DP World Tour winner. “He was friendly with my dad and I’ve known him for years.

“We met up a couple of times a year and he was the life and soul when we met. I also knew him when he caddied for Sam. A great golfer in his own right, too.”

‘Lots of happy memories with him’

Concurring, former Scottish Golfer of the Year Scott Knowles said: “Jim was one of the best. I played many times with him in events and in the winning Scottish Area teams for the Lothians. He was a great guy to have around, always full of confidence and advice.

“He became friends with my dad over the years and I have lots of happy memories with him. I am sure Jim will be holding court upstairs telling stories and having a beer.”