New ground will be broken in April when the Masters welcomes and Indian golfer for the first time.

Unsurprisingly the invitation to Augusta is framed and displayed with pride by Jeev Milkha Singh, the winner of the Volvo Masters at Valderrama at the end of last season.

Singh is at the vanguard of a generation of players that threaten to make India a leading golfing nation. The names of Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur and Arjan Atwal are also making increasingly regular appearances on leaderboards at tournaments around the world.

All of which is very good news for Bradford-based golf campaigner Jaz Athwal. No longer is he searching for role models as he seeks to introduce the game to inner-city children in West Yorkshire.

Athwal’s tireless work in partnership with PGA pro Simon Hotham has resulted in around 3,000 primary school children being given a start in the game over the last four years.

Six private clubs have come on board and Athwal’s vision is to create a “buddy” system which would ensure that youngsters are made to feel welcome at clubs and learn to respect the etiquette of the game.

There’s a constant search for funding for the scheme. Athwal says he has a verbal promise of support (thought to be around £8,000) from the English Golf Partnership and is busy completing the necessary paperwork.

The R&A expressed interest, inviting Athwal to the Open at Hoylake last year, but decided against getting financially involved.

Meanwhile, the grandees of St Andrews must have been thrilled with the performance of Clare Queen in last week’s ANZ Ladies’ Masters at the Royal Pines Resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The 23-year-old Glaswegian, at the start of only her second full season on the Ladies European Tour, was the leading Briton in finishing sixth behind champion Karrie Webb.

As a promising amateur in 2004 Queen received a £4,000 bursary from the R&A to assist her golfing development.

This week, after birdies on four of the last six holes in a closing 68, she was able to bank £11,500 after the best result of her career to date.

Going to Australia had been a gamble. She’d been practising with coach Ian Rae for two weeks in Thailand and extended her trip more in hope than expectation.

She failed to get a place in the Australian Open but sneaked in to the Masters field from the reserve list. “I’m playing 100 times better than last year,” she said.

Finally for now, I’ve just checked with the British Airways press office who confirm that carriage of golf bags remains free despite changes to the airline’s baggage charging policy.