Golf Origin Claim gets up the haggis

A Chinese researcher is challenging Scotland's proud claim to be the home of golf.

The Chinese were teeing off in 945CE, 500 years before the first Scot swung a club, Professor Ling Hong ling of Lanzhou University, claims. He says ancient records tell of a Chinese magistrate playing a game in which a ball is knocked into a hole with a stick. Ling says the game, called "hit-ball", reached Europe much later.

The Royal and Ancient Club in St Andrews had one comment "Golf originated here in Scotland!"