AUGUSTA, Ga. — According to a Yahoo Sports headline, my favorite Scottish golfer, Robert MacIntyre, is “under fire for lewd gesture in Round 1.” Your fire, people. All Bobby Mac did was give the wee loch that fronts the 15th green the ultimate golf emoji: He stood in the fairway and flipped it the middle finger.
When MacIntyre played at Bethpage Black last year, representing Europe at the Ryder Cup, he and his teammates endured far worse.
None of this is to say that MacIntyre’s gesture is good form for a golf professional playing in the Masters, because of course it is not. But it is further proof, in a first cousin sort of way, of something Bob Jones, the great amateur and co-founder of Augusta National once said: “Sometimes emotions cannot be endured with a golf club in your hand.” In other words, Jones was known to throw a club now and again in his tempestuous youth.
In 1921, as a 19-year-old, Jones, competing in the British Open at the Old Course, in St. Andrews, Scotland, tore up his scorecard and walked off the course after 11 holes in his third round.
Ben Crenshaw, the two-time Masters champion and course architect, grew up worshipping Jones. Crenshaw’s nickname, all through his 20s and 30s, was “Gentle Ben.” Those who knew him knew it was a nickname dripping with sarcasm. He’d cite the Jones quote about club-throwing now and again.
In his hundreds of press-tent interviews, Tiger Woods was prone to using all manner of multi-syllable words. Consequently has to be in his top-50. But on the course, now and again and under his breath but those tee mics have good hearing, he’d hit a fast off-the-map pull hook and the next thing you’d hear was the most telling quote ever: “F— you, Tiger.”
Bob MacIntyre has some company. Also, he grew up in a country where you don’t find lakes guarding greens, ever. His middle finger surely was directed at himself, for rinsing the shot in the first place, but also to Robert Trent Jones, the course architect who expanded the terror of that water hazard decades ago.
Anyway, MacIntyre paid the ultimate price. His box for 15 has a 9 in it.
If form holds, he’ll probably win the Masters someday. Good course for lefties, for one thing. Also, Jones came back and won the ’27 Open at St. Andrews. Later, he was given the city’s highest honor. If Robert MacIntyre ever gets a green coat, he’ll forever be telling the story of his “lewd gesture” on 15 in the Thursday round of the ’26 Masters.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.