Oakmont near miss will be just one of many huge moments as Bob MacIntyre battles it out with the game's elite over the next ten years. At 28, he could have a major in the bag before long

Watching Bob MacIntyre await his fate in the clubhouse at Oakmont as the remaining players completed a rain-drenched final round, it was hard not to reflect on the youthful nature of a man on the brink of his biggest moment in the sport.

Even when eventual winner JJ Spaun sank a miracle putt on the 18th green to remove any prospect of Oban’s finest being involved in a Monday shootout, there was almost a childlike awkwardness about the way MacIntyre applauded his dream-snatcher before acknowledging the ridiculous brilliance behind the Californian’s 64ft effort with a hearty ‘wow’.

For many, being in such a position might bring with it a gut-wrenching sense of regret, devastation, missed opportunity. 

The feeling that your career could be defined by this nearly-man moment on the biggest stage.

For MacIntyre, though, and to anyone watching, there was none of that. Instead, there was a sense that this is a sight we should all expect to get used to in the years ahead. 

The image of MacIntyre sitting pretty after posting a score, watching others strive to catch him or stay in touch on the leaderboard. The image of a major winner in waiting.

The Scot’s golfing ability has long been clear to see. It’s been no secret over close to a decade now, since he was performing with such aplomb on the amateur circuit, that he would be the man carrying the torch for Scottish golf on the world stage.

He underlined that fact quite emphatically last season when overcoming his early bouts of homesickness on the PGA Tour by sealing an emotional Canadian Open triumph with his dad on the bag before following up weeks later with a barnstorming Scottish Open win that will remain a career highlight no matter what heights he ends up scaling.

But what happened in Pennsylvania on Sunday night felt like the moment MacIntyre truly arrived. For a global audience, it was the day ‘Bob’ proved he belongs in the big boys’ playground alongside Scottie, Rory, Xander, Bryson and Brooks. It was the round that stamped his ticket among the elite.

The only shame was the fact that viewers in the UK saw so little of it. Sky Sports may point to the host broadcaster as the reason why we saw far more of those going backwards on the leaderboard than those moving up, but the fact that so many had to rely on the official US Open app’s shottracker feature to chart the progress of the man who finished second was a touch disappointing.

As the only man in the field to close out the tournament with two rounds under par, MacIntyre left serial major winners trailing in his wake. With his impressive maturity in the face of monsoon-like conditions and an increasingly waterlogged course, the Scot showed once again that he was built for the sport’s toughest tests.

Given that the blazers who schedule the national Opens on either side of the Atlantic have a clear penchant for serving up the most unforgiving of examinations for the world’s leading players, MacIntyre should be licking his lips while many others’ are quivering.

That ability to ‘keep the heid’ while all around are losing theirs is a integral ingredient in the recipe for sporting success, and MacIntyre showcased his mental fortitude and then some by compiling a scarcely believable bogey-free back-nine of 33 on Sunday evening.

There was nothing in his reaction to Spaun’s heroics or his assessment of his week’s work to think that he would waste time reflecting on what might have been. Taking to social media yesterday, MacIntyre reflected: ‘Competing in the deep end of major championships is what I’ve dreamed of and yesterday was the first real taste of it. We’ll be back for more.’

Of that there is no doubt. Given his career trajectory so far, it would be reasonable to expect a decade at least of solid major opportunities for the Scot. With the confidence and experience he will have banked from a week in Oakmont, you get the impression he’ll be flying to Northern Ireland for next month’s Open Championship without the need for an aeroplane.

Then, of course, there is the Ryder Cup. MacIntyre has had to sweat on his place in the team for the last two stagings of the biennial competition — cruelly missing out on a wild card in 2021 before being selected in 2023 — but he looks a shoo-in for Luke Donald’s team that will head to Bethpage Black in New York in September.

With the disappearance of European stalwarts like Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia — remember them? — MacIntyre is at the vanguard of a new generation of Ryder Cup stars along with Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland. 

The task they will face against a Scheffler-inspired Team USA on home turf later this year will be gargantuan, but don’t expect the quiet man from the Firth of Lorn to be overawed by the challenge.

MacIntyre is three years younger than Colin Montgomerie was when recording the first of his five runner-up finishes in golf’s big four events. 

He has already recorded two PGA Tour victories — that’s two more than Monty managed across his 25 years competing at the top level — and has shown an aptitude for juggling both tours that has proven beyond so many before him.

By securing his place in the top 30 of last season’s FedEx Cup, MacIntyre earned what is essentially golf’s golden ticket. Invitations to every high-profile tournament meant there was no need to flog himself week-in, week-out to try to secure status. 

By being free to schedule his calendar however he desires, he is able to ensure he arrives at each of the majors in peak condition.

Secure enough big finishes in enough big events and a return to the top 30 allows the same freedom next year, setting up more opportunities for a run at the big prizes. Keep knocking at the door and one day it will open.

Having already shown up well at Augusta, a track that is known to suit a left-hander, on his first two appearances prior to this year’s missed cut, MacIntyre can expect to have chances at the Masters over the next few years. 

And with a top-10 already in the bank at the USPGA Championship at Valhalla last year — added to the fact that the tournament often features the kind of attritional golf he clearly thrives on — it’s clear that Bob’s breakthrough could come at any one of the game’s grand slam events. Or, rather, any number of them.

For all that Sunday’s near miss may have thrust MacIntyre into the mainstream, make no mistake, a triumph in one of golf’s four majors would propel him to another stratosphere altogether.

It’s a tantalising thought — and one that will illuminate every major MacIntyre enters from now until it becomes reality.