Meet Scot who’ll followMastersof agloriousgame

BOB MACINTYRE stood on virtually the same spot on the 72nd hole at a Masters as Sandy Lyle did 33 years before him.

The putt was similar to the one his countryman faced in 1988. Unlike Lyle, MacIntyre didn’t have a Green Jacket as his prize.

But the fact he still holed it to secure a return to Augusta just served as another indication he is the real deal and can one day follow Lyle into a special club.

Not since Paul Lawrie brought a nation joy with his Open success at Carnoustie in 1999 has a Scotsman won a Major.

MacIntyre is showing all the signs he can be the one to step up next. At 24, he’s skipping up the ladder fast, doing it with an endearing personality and attitude, along with an unerring talent.

He’s not a modern-day robot player. He’s swashbuckling. He goes for it.

His 21 birdies over four days topped the Masters field. Looking to the Ryder Cup in September, that’s an attacking trait that wins shoot-out matches.

There’s personality off the course too. That much is obvious when he speaks about his love of home in Oban and the value he places on family.

There’s no hint of big time. Having played ceilidh music on his drive up Magnolia Lane, it was Yes Sir I Can Boogie sang along with his team on the way back out. This after being spotted highfiving folk and jumping on his caddie’s back when his tied 12th was sealed.

Star on the course, normal guy off it. You get the impression he could win 10 Majors and still be knocking it about his local course at Glencruitten on a summer’s morning, having scoffed a roll and tattie scone for breakfast. He’s typically Scottish – bold as brass.

There wasn’t a club golfer in the land not at his back when he called out American Kyle Stanley almost two years ago at Royal Portrush for failing to shout fore with a missile crowd-bound.

It was MacIntyre’s first Open. He could have stayed silent. It said as much for his character that he wasn’t going to let the situation stop him from doing what he thought was right as it did that he planned to head straight home for shinty training with pals.

But it’s the steel and style on the big stage that impresses most. He fears no one. Phil Mickelson was a hero of his growing up but when the pair spent part of a practice day on the same green, it was business. I’m here to beat him, not get a picture, he said. And he did – by two shots.

He did it all wearing a black ribbon in honour of golf writer Jock MacVicar who died the week before. Classy in many ways.

It will be important for the public not to rush him. Burdening the boy isn’t helpful but he’s got a brilliant management company guiding him to go with his own mentality.

M follows L and after the heroics of Lyle and Lawrie, there is genuine reason to believe we will be saluting Major MacIntyre one day.

Steel and style on big stage impresses most of all. Bob fears no one