Exclusive:Jealous Bob MacIntyre purrs over Scotland's World Cup start and explains why Boston couldn't happen

The Oban man was in the crowd at Hampden last November when Steve Clarke’s side delivered one of the great nights in Scottish sporting history with a 4-1 win over Denmark to top their qualifying group.

He is close friends with some of the Scotland players, including John McGinn and Scott McTominay after playing with both of them in the Genesis Scottish Open Pro-Am at The Renaissance Club in the past.

If it hadn’t been for the fact he was playing in the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto, MacIntyre would have been in Boston on Saturday night to see the Scots mark their return to football’s biggest stage with a 1-0 win over Haiti in Group C.

Playing in this week’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island means the 29-year-old will also have to settle for watching Friday’s second game against Morocco on television, but he’ll certainly be there in spirit once again.

“Look, it’s great to have the support,” he told The Scotsman of having lots of people wearing Scotland tops and Saltire shirts out watching him on Wednesday in his final practice round for the season’s third major, having finished runner-up in the USGA event at Oakmont 12 months ago.

“Last week I was jealous of the people in Boston at the game. The whole build up in the country, the amount of people I know who’ve come over for it, the amount of people who are staying over for the whole thing.

‘What a country we are, what a support’

“I’ve got a few pals coming out to watch the golf, but they are really just over here for the atmosphere of the football, to be honest with you. Yeah, it is incredible for Scotland to be in it and a brilliant first game.”

The Tartan Army has taken over Boston, drinking it dry and, by all accounts, also being applauded by city workers for showing respect by cleaning up after themselves after partying hard.

“I just look at the crowd and think ‘what a country we are, what a support’,” added MacIntyre, a huge smile creasing his face. “For such a small country, it is incredible. When I listened to the national anthem on TV, I thought ‘boy, we’re at Hampden - we’re in a 90-seater Hampden here’. It was unbelievable to watch and fair play to the boys.

“I went to the Denmark game - it was unbelievable. I was right in the mix of it with the crowd. It was just where I wanted to be. I honestly wish I could have been in Boston for that game - I was so jealous of everybody that was there. Even the build up to it, the atmosphere looked incredible.

“I mean, I watch every game. It doesn’t matter what time it is going to be on. Whether it is in Scotland. Whether I’m over here. I’ll be watching every minute of the games.

“I did think ‘what have you done?’ when I started bogey-bogey on Sunday morning in Canada. I’d normally have been in bed by 8 or 8.30 because of the wee one, but I stayed up the whole way.

“After that bogey-bogey start, I was thinking ‘why did you stay up and watch that’. It is part of us - we are always going to support our own people.”

In the build up to the Haiti game, McGinn was asked who he’d like to see come into the Scotland dressing-room after Prince William’s appearance in the Aston Villa dressing-room following their Europa League victory last month. “Bob MacIntyre…he can give me some tips on my putting,” he replied, laughing.

John McGinn is ‘absolute daftie!’

Asked about that, MacIntyre laughed, too. “Absolute daftie,” he said of the midfielder, who scored the only goal of the game against Haiti. “Look, I keep in touch with them. They message me every now and then and I message them. I’m not messaging them at the moment as they will have enough people annoying and pestering them.

“It’s like me. Go and do your job and I will speak to them when they are back, But, look, the support I’ve got from those guys is great and I support them the whole way as well. Yeah, hopefully they can keep it going and I can do something good this weekend.”