What a summer Bob MacIntyre is having.
Following up a first PGA Tour victory, with dad caddying for him, by winning his national open would have been beyond his wildest dreams.
Everybody could see that Bob was a seriously talented golfer with a big heart – you don’t make a Ryder Cup team if you’re not.
But he’s elevated himself to a level that has taken most of us by surprise.
Yes, he got a good break on 16 with the sprinkler but the way he took advantage of it and rose to the occasion with the pressure increasing was pretty special.
It was the sort of finish not many players could produce in those circumstances.
The boy from Oban, shinty-playing, down to earth guy stuff has maybe seen Bob being underestimated.
It would be too much to expect him to be able to back up the Scottish Open with THE Open.
But it definitely feels as if Scotland at last has a golfer we can expect to win a major rather than hope.
Whatever the X factor is in sport, he’s got it.
The ‘retirement’ question put to Tiger Woods in the media tent at Troon earlier this week struck a nerve.
Poor Colin Montgomerie got both barrels!
I reckon a couple of things are bubbling under the surface.
There will be frustration that he’s not a competitive force at the majors any more.
That will hurt and Tiger won’t like to be reminded of it by anyone – especially a room packed with journalists.
And he’ll also be bored with being asked those type of questions.
You can see it with Andy Murray.
It’s never-ending.
But the only way to change the mood music is by contending at the top again.
Like Bob MacIntyre, Katie Archibald is another inspirational Scottish athlete.
I’ve got such admiration for the way she is handling her Olympic dream being shattered.
Unless you’ve gone through it, which thankfully I never did, it’s impossible to put yourself in her shoes.
We all get nervous that something might happen in the build-up to a Games but it’s injury or illness that goes through your mind.
Tripping on a step in your garden and breaking your leg certainly doesn’t.
The fact it was so innocuous has helped Katie get her head round her missing the Olympics.
“It was such a freak occurrence that that’s helped in a way, because I can’t say ‘why did you never step outside your house’,” she said. “It was a step that I go over every day.”
My heart did bleed for her when I heard the news.
It was so tragic that her partner died a few years ago.
I guess nobody will have a better grip of what is truly important in life.
Sport isn’t at the top of the list.
Katie has two Olympic gold medals and would have been a good bet to add more to her collection in Paris.
She’s 30 so will have the chance to continue for another four years if that’s what she chooses.
There would be nobody with more public support in Los Angeles than Katie, that’s for sure.
Fingers crossed for a fairytale ending.
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