MacIntyre riding high in 100th year since last Scots US Open winner

The Herald Scotland

8 hours ago

Presumably, everybody was scunnered by the arduous, futile guddles for the sports editor's wayward hoiks during The Herald's inaugural autumn outing and decided to put a limit on the hunt.
But back to the US Open. In those formative years of the championship, there was plenty to write home about. Scottish golfers won 12 of the first 16 stagings.
That was hardly surprising. In just about every US state, there was an intrepid Scot spreading the golfing gospel and laying foundations for the growth of the game on the other side of the pond.
In that period, the Scots, in the words of the celebrated golf writer Herbert Warren Wind, had become, "as permanent in the American scene as Swedish masseurs and Chinese laundrymen.'
The tartan army's period of bountiful plunder in the US Open would end in 1925 with Willie Macfarlane triumphing at the Worcester Country Club. That would be the last Scottish success in the USGA's showpiece.
A century on, Oban's Robert MacIntyre had been making a good fist of it at Oakmont and was tucked in the upper echelons of the leaderboard heading into the closing day of a punishing week.
Now, we're not sure if young Master MacIntyre is aware of Macfarlane's epic feat 100 years ago. In the annals of golf history, though, it remains a success of grand significance.
Macfarlane, an Aberdonian by birth who travelled across the Atlantic to take up a club professionals' post at Oak Ridge in New York State, won his one and only major.
He won it the hard way too, in a mammoth 36-hole play-off against the famed Bobby Jones in the searing heat of Massachusetts. And you thought poking it around Oakmont was a strenuous struggle?
This was the US Open in which Jones, who would go on to win the grand slam in 1930, called a penalty on himself during the first round.
Jones felt his club had moved the ball in the rough on the 11th hole, but officials were unable to confirm this and left it to the American to make a ruling. Jones called a one-shot penalty on himself.
Lauded for his sportsmanship, Jones famously replied, 'you might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.'
Tied after 72-holes, Macfarlane and Jones were still locked together after the 18-hole play-off. There was no sudden-death in those days.
So, off they trotted for another 18-holes. Jones was four shots clear at the turn but Macfarlane rallied and won by a single stroke with a 73 to the 74 of Jones.
The Scot picked up $500 for his exhausting 108-hole endeavours. This year's winner shoved a cheque for $4.3 million into his pocket.
'The finest of men and a great golfer,' said Jones as he lavished praise on the triumphant Macfarlane.
The New York Times called the epic tussle, 'easily the greatest Open Championship of them all.' The golf correspondent with the Montreal Gazette, meanwhile, was positively giddy.
'Thus ended one of the greatest struggles between two of the game's giants that the world has ever seen,' he scribbled with a gasp.
'The gods of golf held their fingers crossed for Bobby Jones today but in the end, the most deserving golfer was rewarded.
'It was the perfect ending to a day of tremendous happenings that forced two thousand enthusiasts to dash hither and about, up and over the hills of Worcester Country Club in spite of a torrid sun that poured down on scorched heads.'
There wasn't much sun on the final day at Oakmont on Sunday. The final round was deluged by the kind of downpour that would've had tournament officials consulting Noah for a meteorological update.
The leading group had managed to get to the eighth before the dreaded hooter sounded as Mother Nature flung a star-spangled spanner into the USGA's works.
MacIntyre was still in the top-10 when he reached the turn before the suspension. A couple of early bogeys had him glowering like the dark clouds that were brewing over Oakmont but a tremendous putt for an eagle on the fourth lifted his morale.
Jon Rahm, the US Open champion in 2021, got himself home and dry before the hooter shrieked with an admirable 67 which hoisted him into the early clubhouse lead. Rory McIlroy posted a similar card
'It's crazy because it doesn't feel like I played that different to every other round,' said Rahm after finishing with a flourish.
It's a funny auld game.