The golf writers are a learned old lot. When we’re not gracefully composing another prize-winning article, and letting our typing fingers dance across the laptop keys with the elegant nonchalance of Richard Clayderman tinkling his ivories, then we’re embroiled in scholarly, convivial chinwags that used to be the reserve of an ancient Greek symposium.
This auld stick and ba’ game, of course, tends to lend itself to such expansive examination, deep-thinking dissection and academic analysis.
If, for instance, you’d popped your head into the media centre at last week’s Scottish Open, then your ears would’ve been stirred by the sage pearls of wisdom and erudite musings that echoed from within.
“Oh, for **** sake,” muttered one of my cultured colleagues with the enlightened philosophising you’d hear when Aristotle dunted his knee on one of the pillars of the Parthenon.
The reason for this harrumphing outpouring, of course, was the release of the tee-times for the weekend’s play in the domestic showpiece.
Gazing down the drawsheet and seeing that the leaders were off at 15:40 on the Saturday and Sunday was about as uplifting as reading the sombre inscriptions on a row of crumbling tombstones.
Saying that, even the crotchety golf writers stopped grousing and carping come Sunday night when Robert MacIntyre trundled in that birdie putt on the last to become the first Scotsman to win the Scottish Open since good old Monty 25 years ago.
Funnily enough, 1999 also saw the last Scottish winner of The Open, when Paul Lawrie won at Carnoustie. With these omens swilling around, we may as well give the Claret Jug to MacIntyre right now.
I’m joking, of course, but what a tonic the Oban man has provided us with as we hurtle into the final men’s major of the season this week at Royal Troon.
Typing away the other night at the Renaissance, while documenting MacIntyre’s latest conquest in a season that just keeps getting better and better, my mind drifted back to the working tales of one of my Herald predecessors, the delightfully eloquent Raymond Jacobs.
The 1985 Open at Sandwich was inching to a finale and Sandy Lyle stood on the brink of becoming the first Scot in the modern era to lift the Claret Jug.
Raymond, with thoughts of an increased workload disrupting his supper and favourite French red, took to his feet in the press centre, shook his head in solemn anticipation and said, “we are now entering uncharted territory” before slumping to his seat again.
Dear Raymond’s observation about the enhanced requirements from various editors may have been as gloomy as the apocalyptic declarations of Private Frazer in Dad’s Army but the glory-laden territory Lyle would take him into over the next couple of years would be worth the elevated word counts.
MacIntyre is not a major champion just yet – who knows what this game has in store? - but the last year or so has been a wonderful ride for those fortunate to cover his endeavours and accomplishments.
The Scottish Open heartbreak a year ago, the thrilling tumult of a Ryder Cup debut last September, the rise to the PGA Tour and subsequent victory in his rookie year? Raymond would’ve loved it really.
After that emotional breakthrough on the PGA circuit in the Canadian Open last month, his Scottish success – the one he always wanted – was another tear-jerker.
Straddling the Atlantic and winning on both sides of it in the space of a few weeks is a mighty feat and one reserved for the very best.
You may recall after his Canadian success that there were one or two unnecessarily disparaging comments made – yes, it’s hard to believe – about the strength of the field in that event and how it wasn’t an elite PGA Tour contest.
There can be no doubting the quality of the line-up the Scot vanquished this time. Eight of the world’s top-10 were in East Lothian and MacIntyre is now up to 16th on the global pecking order.
He’s a boy for the big stage. And that stage doesn’t get much bigger than the 152nd Open. Given that his Scottish Open celebrations were probably as lavish as the Ambani wedding, MacIntyre has shunted his pre-Open press conference back to Wednesday.
In this game of ups, downs, twists and turns, you have to celebrate the wins when they come along.
It’s eight years since we’ve been at Royal Troon for an Open. It was an eventful week, wasn’t it? The 2016 edition marked the first time the championship hadn’t been broadcast on the BBC, following an earlier-than-planned migration to Sky.
The hastily re-arranged vote by the club to admit female members, meanwhile, was meant to be a decisive decision that would allow the golf to take centre stage.
But then we all ended up falling into a burning ring of ire about the Olympics of that year, with panic over the Zika virus and withering comments about golf’s return to the Games dominating the agenda in the championship’s build up.
Mercifully, we got a shoot-out for the ages as Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson conjured one of the sport’s greatest days.
Here in 2024, there’s no shortage of kerfuffle in the golfing world. Who, or indeed what, will be the talk of the Troon toon this week? Watch this space…
