Bob MacIntyre tells US golf gripers why he's swerving Memorial Tournament and it's ALL to do with ambition

One minute the American golf public were lauding Bob MacIntyre for his fairytale finish in Canada with his dad on the bag. The next they are accusing the Scot of lacking ambition and practically sticking two fingers up at golfing great Jack Nicklaus.

It’s no wonder Oban hero MacIntyre finds it hard to settle over there. They just don’t get him at all. He’s not sitting out the Memorial Tournament hosted by the legend of the game because he lacks ambition. Big Bob is taking time out because he’s knackered after a winning end to a run of six events on the bounce and now has the US Open at Pinehurst next week.

And as for lack of ambition? Well get this – MacIntyre doesn’t just want to mix it with the best from now on after his maiden PGA Tour win at the weekend. He wants to BE the best.

But MacIntyre is still only human and needs to catch his breath. He said: “I actually miscounted the tournaments that I’d played when I did a press conference last week. That was actually week six. And it’s been a good six weeks.

“The mental aspect of that six-week stretch was high and then obviously winning last week was an even bigger high, so if I played Memorial, the US Open and the Travelers, that would have been nine weeks in a row. Not many players would play nine weeks in a row, except probably me, the madman!

“I mean, the fifth week, at Colonial, I thought that was even a step too far after having obviously been in with a chance to win at Myrtle Beach, having an outside chance at the PGA Championship. So me and my team, we just thought it was the right thing to pull back, have a week off. It could have been any event.

"Yes, I get that it’s an elevated event, and it’s $20m or whatever it is. But does preparing right for the US Open