I was watching the Scottish Open this morning and saw Tommy Fleetwood play a few holes. He was dressed top to toe in grey, but what I noticed was how grey his face looked.

Then I realised. He was wearing heavy duty sun block.

It’s something that you don’t often see, skin that grey, but hopefully most professional golfers do wear sun protection as golfers have a greater risk of developing skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in the world.

From the professional ranks, both Adam Scott and Andy North have had surgery for skin cancer, but its something even the most casual of golfers should take very seriously.

I carry sunscreen around in my bag every day having very fair Scandinavian type skin with freckles. It’s essential to put it on for any exposure to the sun, especially on cloudy days. It’s an essential just like car keys and mobile phones for men to have in their pockets and females to keep in their handbags, and use it and reapply it, especially on the golf course. For me, always using sun protection has had the added bonus of keeping the wrinkles away!

With hand sanitiser stations being positioned around golf courses and in clubhouses, it also makes sense to have sun screen applicators available in the same place, the risk of skin cancer from UV exposure is as equally deadly as contracting Covid. Using sun block is like being vaccinated, you need it for protection.

In Australia, which has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, there was a TV ad campaign called Slip, slop, slap. That meant slip on a t shirt (cover up in the sun), slop on the sun block and slap on a sun hat.

Now that’s wear the grey man has only got it two thirds right. Tommy Fleetwood is renowned for not wearing any cap or visor. That’s not about him turning down sponsorship money for advertising on the headwear, it’s about letting his trademark Jesus style hair flow freely. Daft if you ask me, he should be covering that up too. Though glad ro see Team GB uniform has got Tommy to wear one for the Olympics.

Safety over vanity, always rules.