The hosiery did not begin as a fashion statement. John “Long Socks” McLaren, the caddie famed for his flamboyant on-course attire, had a practical reason to stand out from the crowd.
“It started in a fire,” McLaren explains. “I couldn’t expose my legs to the sun after that. I would have been 24/25 at a house and there was a fire, we were chucking debris on it to clear stuff. There was a methane pocket in it and it blew up to burn my legs from the knees down when I was wearing shorts.
