Peter Dawson ...

sorry, that should be Peter Dawson OBE ...gave his first interview to the golf writers since Her Royal Highness made him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to this chivalrous pursuit. Cue much reverential shuffling, bowing and kneeling from the scribes in attendance? Not quite. "I'm well down the food chain," quipped the chief executive of the Royal & Ancient during a quick chin-wag at last week's Amateur Championship.

In golf's chain of command, Jordan Spieth, the upwardly mobile 21-year-old, continues his remarkable rise after closing the gap on Rory McIlroy at the top of the world rankings following his US Open win on Sunday. Poor old Tiger Woods, meanwhile, continues to plummet like a stone and is now a lowly 205th on the global pecking order. In less than a month, the 14-times major winner will be in St Andrews for the Open Championship. On a course where he marched to imperious victories in 2000 and 2005, the toiling Tiger remains a shadow of his former self. Can he get back to something resembling his auld self in the Auld Grey Toon?

"You would hope his memories of St Andrews would rekindle something," said Dawson. "I do feel for him. In my time at the R&A, he has been the number one player for a long, long time. It is sad to see him not playing as well, but I wouldn't underestimate his determination to get back. No one would love to see him back playing well more than me. It seems his form on the practice ground is very impressive. So it's in there somewhere."

The Old Course will be staging golf's oldest major for the 29th time next month. Since the last Open there in 2010, a number of tweaks and subtle changes have been made to the venue. When these face lifts were announced, it prompted a frenzy of knee-jerk hysteria throughout the golfing world with certain players, who hadn't actually seen the changes, roaring about 'sacrilege' and 'desecration'.

"Most people who have played the course don't realise that the changes have been made frankly," added Dawson. "St Andrews is all about risk and reward. If you drive left you have a safer shot, if you drive right there is risk. On the third, for instance, the bunkering was such that the players could actually pass the bunkers. There was no risk going up the right. Now there is."

As those from Chambers Bay will testify, golfers like a right good groan although you can't compare the manufactured oddity that was last week's US Open venue with the natural, magnificent splendour of the Old Course. Any grumbles about the changes at St Andrews? "No, quite the opposite in fact," said Dawson. "Ernie Els, for example, was very complimentary the last time he visited."

This year's Open will be Dawson's last as chief executive before he hands over the reins to Martin Slumbers. In his 16 years at the helm, Dawson oversaw a number of major changes, not least the admission of women to the R&A's membership for the first time in its 260-year history. He was instrumental in getting golf back into the Olympics - it will return at Rio in 2016 after an absence of 112 years - while he recently secured long and lucrative deals for the Open with both Sky Television and NBC in the US. There's not much for the new man to do then? "Oh, no, he has lots to do," he said. "I know Martin has zoomed in on participation as a priority for the future, and part of the reason we concentrate on our commercial activities is that we get the funding to help participation going forward. Pace of play remains an issue. Personally, I don't think the elite players have much influence on players at club level. I've never been to a course that has two-balls and has a pace of play problem. It's four-ball after four-ball that is the problem."