Portraits of golfing superstars Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo lead the first Golf Heritage sale to be held in Scotland when they go under the hammer at Bonhams, Edinburgh on 11 June.
Bonhams, the third largest international fine art auction house, will hold two golf sales a year in the Scottish capital in conjunction with its Sporting Sales.
The portraits were commissioned in 2008 to mark the 37th Ryder Cup Matches held at Valhalla Golf Club Louisville, Kentucky. Faldo and Azinger were the team captains that year with the Americans emerging victorious, ending a streak of three successive wins for Team Europe. The artist was the American painter LeRoy Neiman (1921-2012), well known for his depictions of sporting greats. The Azinger portrait is estimated at £20,000-30,000 and the Faldo at £15,000-20,000. Both portraits have been exhibited at The British Golf Museum, St Andrews.
The sale also includes a rare set of US Open official annuals signed by the championship winners. These have been published by the United States Golf Association since 1985 and this set is complete up until 2012 with the exception of the annual for 1988. The annual for 2008 is unsigned but that for 2000 includes the signed score card of Jack Nicklaus who was playing in his last US Open. The set of 27 annuals is estimated at £1,200-1,600.
Finally, the US Masters is represented by a unique Masters flag signed in red ink within the Masters logo in 2007 by 15 past winners who between them had won the event 23 times.
Bonhams www.bonhams.com