Can the final men’s major of the year be any more exciting than the tournament leading up to it?
Oh, sure The Open Championship has a rich history and players from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf competing. And who knows, maybe in a year or two from now the uncivil war between the two professional golf factions will be over and we can see the best playing not only in the majors but in all professional men’s tournaments. Maybe there will be an amalgamation of the two and even more tournaments and more money and…
Okay, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Let’s just think about the now.
When PGA Tour rookie Robert (Bob) MacIntyre (Titleist Pro V1) won the Scottish Open last week, he became a national hero after placing second to Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5x) last year. If there was any doubt as to how good this young Scot is, he proved it with a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole with the eyes of the crowd and all of Scotland on him. The putt slowly dribbled into the hole, creating even more drama.
There is something special about a national open. McIlroy said that a few years ago prior to the 2022 Canadian Open, speaking about the history of national opens. The LIV Golf war was in full swing, and McIlroy was doing everything possible to defend the PGA Tour, underlining what national opens meant from a historical perspective. He repeated as the winner and it proved to be a great story. It became even bigger last year when Nick Taylor (Titleist Pro V1x) won the 2023 Canadian Open in a playoff, sinking a 72-foot eagle putt to end a long drought for Canadians in the tournament.
It was somewhat similar with MacIntyre, who became the first Scottish-born player to win the tournament since Colin Montgomery 25 years ago. MacIntyre rallied from behind going four-under par on the final five holes. He received a fortuitous free drop on the 16th hole because of a sprinkler near his tee shot. He eagled the par-5 hole.
“Great Scot,” said CBS announcer Jim Mantz, who surely had that line ready and waiting when MacIntyre sunk the 20-footer.
Nantz capped off Taylor’s historical putt, saying, “Oh my goodness, glorious and free,” quoting from the Canadian National Anthem.
I think Great Scot was too easy.
He could have used if the tournament had gone into a playoff with England’s Adam Scott (Titleist Pro V1), who watched helplessly from the scorer’s tent. He was tied with MacIntyre after completing his round.
So if the Scottish-born player and the player named Scot are tied, it’s a gimme what Nantz would have said.
Nonetheless the Great Scot utterance fit perfectly because of the historical significance.
MacIntyre is 27 and grew up about a two-hour drive from where the Scottish Open was played. He won the Canadian Open this year, so his victory in the Scottish Open is proof he is one of the new breed of stars in the sport.
Earlier this year, he talked of how lonely it was playing and residing in the U.S. and how he needed to go home for a three-week break to find himself, so to speak, surrounded by family and friends. He talked about after it after a solid opening round of the PGA Championship. He tied for eighth. He went into it having missed six cuts in his first 11 tournaments. Since then, he’s played six tournaments, missing three cuts but recording two championships, starting with the Canadian Open. He has put himself in a solid position for Rookie of the Year Honors.
MacIntyre will go into The Open Championship hoping to make further history, though it might be asking too much of him to mentally and emotionally rebound so quickly.
SPEAKING OF SCOTLAND: Ayaka Furue (Bridgestone TOUR B XS), won the Amundi Evian Championship in France to record the first major of her career, which began on the LPGA Tour in 2022.
What’s interesting is that it was only her second career win. Her initial win came in her rookie year in the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, her 16th start of the season. She shot s course record 10-under par in the final round. She had tied for 19th the week before in the Amundi Evian Championship.
Furue is only 5-feet tall, the shortest player on the LPGA Tour, but she came up big in her first major victory.
