IF your golf club doesn't yet hold a qualifier for the International Pairs, it's time you persuaded them to give it a go - it might earn you a trip to St Andrews, writes Tim Wellock.

Not to the Old Course itself, but to the fabulous new development at St Andrews Bay, which has agreed to become the spiritual home to the biggest pairs event in the world.

Launched in 1998, the International Pairs event has grown from 3,000 entries to more than 20,000, with national trophies for men, ladies and mixed winners in each participating country.

The entry fee is £5 per person and any club can hold a qualifying competition as long as they have a minimum of 25 pairs entering.

The winners of each club event go through to the semi-finals on one of eight Scottish courses, then the finalists are guaranteed a further two nights' luxurious accommodation as they play for 15 trophies, which will now be permanently housed in a cabinet at the St Andrews Bay Hotel.

Sky televised this year's UK finals at Cardrona, near Peebles, and the event is sponsored by bmi airline, Bruichladdich whisky and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The whisky, an award-winning single malt distilled on Islay, features in the prizes, so if you get through to the finals it could be the best fiver you ever spent. For the first four years the International Pairs UK finals were held in Ireland, but they are now firmly established in Scotland, birthplace of the event's founder, Ross Honey.