Colin Montgomerie makes bold Bob MacIntyre prediction and why he won't play new-look Troon

Fellow Scot impressed with Oban man’s performance at PGA Championship

Colin Montgomerie won’t be teeing up in the 152nd Open in his hometown of Troon, having been happy to make the cut there in 2016 at the age of 53 after coming through one of the final qualifiers. “I want to bow out of The Open as I did,” he declared, speaking after it was confirmed that the eight-time European No 1 will be on home soil in July for The Senior Open presented by Rolex at Carnoustie the week after the main Claret Jug event.

It’s Bob MacIntyre, not Montgomerie, Sandy Lyle or Paul Lawrie, who is the main Scottish hope these days in the regular majors and, having added an impressive joint-eighth finish in the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky on Sunday to a brace of top tens in The Open, the Oban man is showing that he’s definitely got the game to be a genuine contender in golf’s marquee events over the next couple of decades.

“Well there’s one thing Bob does do well. He putts well. He holes out extremely well,” observed Montgomerie, with MacIntyre capping a good week on the greens in Louisville by rolling in a six-footer for a closing eagle, which was worth nearly $300,000 on its own, lifting him ten spots as he picked up just over $520,000 and also made welcome jumps in the Official World Golf Ranking, FedEx Cup standings and Race to Dubai points list.

Bob MacIntyre reacts after holing an eagle putt on the 18th green in the final round of the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Picture: Michael Reaves/Getty Images.

“He had issues at the start of his American performances, he wasn’t doing well and missed a number of cuts, fix out of six or something. He had a big, big chance of winning, he was leading the tournament pre-PGA (the Myrtle Beach Classic), so that gave him a boost of confidence that he needed to get. He needed that confidence to feel that he belonged in America and then he obviously took it into the PGA.

“And he’s done well in the majors, he has. He has done extremely well. His record in The Open is good and other majors as well, so he’s done extremely well and I think this will give him a boost to go forward now in America and really contend to win. It would be super to see and, if he can win in America, it would be super for him. That last week was good for him, very good for him. To be in contention, well done him. Yes the [Tiger] Woods and [Phil] Mickelson era is away, but it has been taken over by the Schefflers, the McIlroys, the Schauffeles. My god, that new breed has come through and it is difficult to win.”

Less than a fortnight ago, MacIntyre had spoken openly about finding the PGA Tour a “lonely” place since starting out on the US circuit as a full-time card holder. At the same time, though, he also admitted that a recent trip home to Oban had helped enormously in terms of his mindset. “I feel a happy Bob is a dangerous Bob on a golf course,” said the Ryder Cup player during that confidence-boosting Myrtle Beach Classic display and Montgomerie reckons it will now be a case of onwards and upwards for his compatriot on the other side of the Atlantic.

“It is difficult living away from home,” said the 60-year-old, who knows the challenges himself and also faced the added hurdle of being a target for American fans due to his stellar Ryder Cup record. “I was lucky in a way. I was away at boarding school and then, of course, I had four years in America living away from home as well. So it wasn’t so new to me to be away from home and it has been difficult for Bob to adjust to American life.

Colin Montgomerie shakes hands with caddie Alastair McLean after completing the final round in the 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2016. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“It’s not easy. You are treated, I hate to say, a wee bit of a foreigner. They used to call us aliens, didn’t they! When you used to go passport control, bloody aliens, hang on a minute! When you are not American, you are not part of the scene the same as it is at home. Hence his great success (finishing second to Rory McIlroy) at the Scottish Open last year, he must have felt like: ‘Oh my god, I’ve got this huge support here at The Renaissance Club and that isn’t forthcoming here in America’. Things weren’t going well, he went home, came back and he has been different since then.

“So we just wish him well and let’s hope this performance in this particular major, as he wasn’t in the Masters, gives him a real boost, and he can go forward now and feel like he belongs because that is the key thing. You want to check-in, when you register, you get the car and all the stuff you have to do, you have to feel that you belong. If he’s six-foot-one, you want to walk in six-foot-two and feel that space. That’s so important to him and, at the early season, that wasn’t happening to him. From now on, let’s hope that it does.”

Though the US Senior Open being held the week before The Open is the main reason why he’s decided not to try and qualify on this occasion, Montgomerie is happy to concentrate on trying to win the over-50s Claret Jug on the Angus coast rather than teeing up an Ayrshire assignment. "I would love to play, of course, but some of the new tees at Troon, I just keep walking backwards and backwards. It’s getting longer and longer,” he said. “I was very proud to make the cut at Troon at 53 having qualified, so I’ll leave it to the bigger hitters. I can’t really compete. I’m about 275 off the tee, well I’m sorry to say, that’s a 4-iron for these guys. You can compete over nine holes. It’s not going to happen over 72.”

MacIntyre is not yet in the field for next month’s US Open at Pinehurst, having not made the list of 30 players to be added to the exempt list by the USGA on Monday, but his compatriot and Bounce Sport stablemate, Grant Forrest, will be teeing up in the third major of the season.

With rounds of 66 and 68 for a ten-under-par total, Forrest shared the medallist honours with English duo Richard Mansell and Brandon Robinson Thompson in a final qualifier at Walton Heath, where a total of nine qualifiers also included Ryder Cup vice captain Edoardo Molinari and 2023 Farmfoods Scottish Challenge winner Sam Bairstow. “I can’t wait, my first US Open, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Forrest.