World of golf mourns Kim Jong-Il

The Royal & Ancient and US PGA paid tribute today as the world's greatest golfer, North Korean tyro Kim Jong-Il, passed away at the age of 69.

Kim's golfing career only got going when Pyongyang's first golf course was completed, but the naturally talented right-hander blazed round in a record 38 under par, including eleven holes-in-one, all independently verified on pain of execution by his seventeen bodyguards caddies. That barnstorming opening to his career was backed up by a stellar spell where he regularly dipped south of 20 under par and rarely failed to make at least four holes-in-one. He continued to play at this high level despite age and infirmity beginning to catch up with after the first of his strokes in 2008.

With travel restrictions on North Koreans, Kim was rarely seen at the majors, but it's safe to assume, given his remarkable stats, that any combination of Woods, Norman, Faldo, Palmer, Ballesteros and Nicklaus at their peak would have been blown off the course. Indeed, only fellow world statesman and enormous golfing cheat Bill Clinton came anywhere close to matching Kim's numbers.

The North Korean Golf Association has invested heavily in it's youth development programme and the 20-something year old Kim Jong-Un is widely tipped to match his father's achievements.