Time for Bob MacIntyre to get back to making people love him

The world is suddenly full of ‘Bob MacIntyre experts’, with every man, woman and their dogs all seeming to be expressing views on the Oban man over his, well, eventful week at Augusta National.

He’s taken a bit of a kicking, to be honest, after finding himself in the spotlight for a different reason than the one he’d been hoping for after arriving in Georgia with high hopes of at least getting in the mix and perhaps even becoming a major champion.

Some bad language was picked up during his first round and, especially coming off the back of that also having happened in Texas the previous week when he was in contention there, that was always going to be an issue when he was in a marquee group in this particular tournament with Scottie Scheffler.

Swearing as much as he often does is something that the 29-year-old is going to have to try and work on, especially on a stage like this when the world is watching and people are quick to jump on bandwagons if someone steps out of line.

A glum-looking Bob MacIntyre as he missed the cut in the Masters for the second year in a row | Augusta National

As for him making a one-fingered gesture, it is important to bear in mind that he didn’t flick his finger at either a patron or a Green Jacket. He did it to a golf hole - the 15th - that is testing, to say the least, and where lots of people have found watery graves over the years.

Elsewhere, that wouldn’t even have been picked up by TV cameras, but, unfortunately for him, it was and a clip of him ‘flipping the bird’, as they say in the US, duly went viral.

When an image of an AI generated gnome of him doing a one-fingered gesture appeared on social media, it was difficult not to laugh because it was funny and most people will have seen it as such.

Not the Green Jackets, though, and, sorry, but it was a wrong move on his part when MacIntyre himself shared that on Instagram. Fuel was thrown on a fire that was small in the first place but, as emerged later, a new code of conduct was in place at this year’s tournament and it should be implemented.

It’s been well documented that MacIntyre didn’t speak to reporters at the end of either of his two rounds, which led to a second straight missed cut in this event. In fairness to him, he messaged this correspondent on Friday to “apologise” for that, saying that it was “nothing against you at all”.

Worried about getting in deeper trouble

He’s still not broken his silence in public and the reason for that, I believe, is that he is worried about getting himself in deeper trouble, having been someone who shoots from the hip since he first came out here and not wanting to change.

That’s understandable. Of course, it is. Here’s something for him to consider, though, as he heads to South Carolina for one of the PGA Tour’s Signature Events then the PGA Championship next month at Aronimink.

MacIntyre would absolutely hate to think that people likened him to Sergio Garcia, who showed his nasty side yet again by taking a chunk out of the tee then smashing his driver against a water cooler and breaking it.

Yes, play with good-old Scottish passion and never lose those battling qualities you’ve shown so far. Just as Andy Murray did throughout his career, which included some swearing at times.

Use what happened last week, though, to get back to being someone who is loved by a nation and give them something to shout about as opposed to giving ammunition for people to turn against you.