Ross Kinnaird has officially retired as one of golf’s leading photographers but also as one of the nicest and friendliest fellow members of the golfing media I’ve had the pleasure to know.
Ross, or Roscoe as he’s more affectionately known to his many friends, packed away his photographer’s credential for a last time at Sunday’s concluding Hero Hero World Tour Championship.
I met Roscoe in the early 1990s and when I first began travelling full-time to European Tour events and then later embarking on the PGA Tour.
At first, I was very rookie journalist trying to find my way, at first dabbling in a little photo/journalism before journalism took over, a career peaking in filing golf copy to five six or seven different newspapers a day .. a little less for Sunday papers.
It’s been a great career Rosco @GettyImages …
So glad to have met you, enjoyed your company, become friends and shared the journey
Enjoy your retirement
Bernie’s tribute to Ross: https://t.co/MYqXBicRBE
DPWT tribute To Ross : https://t.co/YF089j06k1… https://t.co/o9wCT3hZou pic.twitter.com/MQWcQRn5xl
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) January 26, 2026
In those early, pre-interent, pre-live TV coverage days it was a very close knit group of media and photographers travelling the tournaments across the world, and while that sounds exciting, it was but what made it special was the friends you made.
You’ve heard the tour’s are like family, as that is what it like, and establishing relationships that would last your entire working career and then after.
Those friends became special as you travelled together, spent an awful lot of time in media centres, resided at the same hotels, went out to dinner, enjoyed a few drinks in a bar somewwhere, and just undertook things that friends do and being ‘on the road’ often for a few weeks at time, so friendships were important.
They made being at a golf tournament special.
Roscoe worked the fairways in the company of his fellow Getty colleagues Dave Cannon, Stuart Franklin, Andy Reddington and there was the also Golf File lads in Fran Caffrey and very good friend, Eoin Clarke. And not forgetting Stuart Adams, with whom I am still in regular contact.
I learnt so much being out on course, inside the ropes in their company, as well as from my dear written media colleagues.
We also got into a bit of mischief, played a lot of golf, consumed the odd beer and plenty of glasses of French red but they were great times.
It’s been great sharing the journey with you, Roscoe.
Happy retirement. I’m not far behind you.
