Bob MacIntyre has been landed a brutal Open burden and placed in an impossible position, according to former Ryder Cup star Andrew Coltart. The Oban ace joins a long line of top Scottish golfers who face an annual scheduling dilemma that works against them.
The Weight of Expectation at the Scottish Open
MacIntyre carried the weight of expectation and pressure last week while playing in his national Open at Renaissance. Coltart, now a Sky Sports broadcaster, knows exactly how that feels from his own playing days. He explained that the scheduling of the Scottish Open immediately before The Open Championship creates a unique challenge for Scottish players.
“Massively. It's great that the Scottish Open is in that position in the schedule because it obviously means a lot, but I've always felt it's had a negative impact on Scottish players,” Coltart said.
The Impossible Position
Coltart described the predicament: “With an Open Championship just around the corner, I would have approached things differently. I would not necessarily have been playing the week before. But it is the Scottish Open. I'm not going to miss it and that's exactly the problem. That's exactly what I felt.”
Scottish players feel compelled to play their home Open, often described as a fifth Major, with all the expectation and distractions that entails. “You have got to play in your home Open, your sort of fifth Major. So you play in that with all the expectation that's on that, the distractions that are naturally associated with all that,” Coltart added.
Mental and Physical Toll
The conditions at the Scottish Open can be brutal. “With the weather, you could get blown away in the conditions and then you are mentally exhausted by the time you pitched up at the Open Championship,” Coltart noted. This leaves Scottish players drained before the year's final Major even begins.
Coltart emphasised that many don't realise the bind Scots are in: “So it's something that a lot of people don't realise about the Scots, they're not going to pull out of the Scottish Open so they're between, they're in an impossible position without trying to make excuses.”
Contrast with American Players
Interestingly, American players often choose to play the Scottish Open to gain experience on links courses. “The Americans choose to come and play the links courses because they've not played a lot of that type of golf and they want to get a little feel,” Coltart said. “But the Scotsmen have been playing links golf courses all their life, they don't need to play the week before the Open, they know how to play it.”
Despite this, Scottish players feel they cannot skip their national Open, even though it may harm their chances at The Open. Coltart's comments highlight a persistent issue that continues to affect Scots like MacIntyre, who must balance national pride with the demands of a gruelling Major schedule.
