TALK about a Great Triumvirate. And, no, that’s not Vardon, Taylor and Braid. “My working life has been in whisky, football and golf and for a Scotsman it doesn’t get much better,” said David Longmuir of a career that has been so steeped in the nation’s heritage his cv should appear in a guide to heraldry, clans and tartans.

After two decades with spirits giant, Diageo, Longmuir became chief executive of the Scottish Football League (SFL), a position which would’ve just about driven the Temperance Society to drink.

In that period, he had to contend with a number of clubs going into administration as well as the monetary meltdown at Rangers. The complex and contentious merger of the SFL and the Scottish Premier League into what is now the Scottish Professional Football League brought the curtain down on that particular chapter.

It’s been a whole new ball game for Longmuir these past five years, of course. Brought in by the PGA back in 2015 to explore commercial opportunities across the association’s various regions in Britain and Ireland, he moved into the manager’s role of the PGA in Scotland at the start of 2020.

It’s hardly been plain sailing. Coronavirus ensured that. For everybody involved in sport, steering the ship on these raging waters has been akin to bobbing through a tempest in a balsa raft. Golf has emerged better than most pursuits but the challenges remain.

While the latest lockdown measures have closed golf in other parts of the UK and Ireland, it goes on in the game’s cradle. “We have handled the whole situation as best we could,” said Longmuir. “At the PGA we were quick to initiate a contact resource so we could help our pros interpret not just the health and safety guidance but also the various pots of funding that were available.

“What has brought us together has been the need to collaborate. When I started last March, Karin Sharp was just starting a new role at Scottish Golf (the amateur body). We were both in new roles and suddenly faced with this major challenge. What’s been good is that there have been fresh ideas and a willingness to work together to get information out and interpret the guidance to both amateur and professional golfers. We are all in it together and, along with the Scottish Government and Sportscotland, that joined-up approach has been crucial in getting golf back on.”

With the coronavirus-induced closure of clubhouses and pro shops, the curtailment of coaching and the general ravaging of the PGA in Scotland’s Tartan Tour in 2020, the professionals Longmuir represents have had a tough old time of it. Longmuir continues to look on the bright side, though.

“Financially and mentally, it’s been hard for a lot of people,” he said. “But to get pro events back on was a huge plus. And, given what’s just been announced this week, we have to be thankful that we can still play north of the border. “Coaching has been restricted but it still gives our PGA members a chance to have a little bit of business in a very challenging time.”

Longmuir continues to work on a playing schedule for the 2021 Tartan Tour. Last season, the domestic circuit’s Pro-Am scene, for years the lifeblood of the circuit, was decimated but Longmuir is quietly optimistic for the campaign ahead.

“Everything you’d expect to see will be there, with a few additions,” he said of a diary of events that will be headlined by the Loch Lomond Whiskies Scottish PGA Championship.

“Last year, most of the Pro-Ams were postponed but on the basis we will have them in 2021. The thing about the situation we are in is that it’s very fluid. A lot of things are simply a work in progress. But the message I want to put out is that the Tartan Tour is looking very positive. All we are striving for is opportunity for our members. Sponsorship at our level is quite a luxury spend for companies. In times of trouble and pressure, sponsorship can get pulled back very quickly. We have been fortunate that our sponsors have been very loyal.”

Longmuir was, and still is, a canny bowls player. He represented his country alongside celebrated boolers like Alex “Tattie” Marshall while qualifying for a couple of indoor World championships. He’s a dab hand at golf too. “I was more of a social golfer but since joining the PGA my handicap has moved from 20 to 11,” he said. “It must be watching all these PGA pros.”

Flattery will get you everywhere.