Scottish Open: Robert MacIntyre turns teacher for world's best - but he's not only Scot making waves

This edition, of course, has a hard act to follow for home fans after Bob MacIntyre raising a roar that was probably heard on the Fife side of the Firth of Forth as he holed a 23-foot birdie putt on the final green 12 months ago to become the first Scot to claim the coveted crown since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.

Even so, it was an encouraging opening day for a few of those in a six-strong Caledonian contingent, notably Calum Hill, as he started with a bogey-free effort. But MacIntyre as well as the defending champion showed once again that he’s really matured as both a person and a golfer.

Playing in the same group as three-time major champion Padraig Harrington and two-time PGA Tour winner Corey Conners, Hill carded a five-under-par 65 - he birdied the tenth, 12th, 16th and 17th on his outward journey before adding another gain at the seventh - to sit handily-placed in the $9 million Rolex Series event.

By his own admission, Hill has been guilty of being a bit too hard on himself at times and his wife Miranda, who travels around the world with him and was there to celebrate his Joburg Open win on the DP World Tour earlier in the year, had noticed that. “I would say there's a chance that you might be correct with that!” he replied with a smile of being asked if he’d over-stressed himself in this event in particular. “It's my favourite event of the year, and you just want to do so well.

“My wife has kicked me for the last few months just to say that this is just another event, and you just go and enjoy it more. I think I used to be a bit more on edge, so, if anything went quite off-keel, I was a bit frustrated getting quick to disappointment and things. So, yeah, I’m just trying to take it a little bit easier on myself, I would say, and then obviously good golf helps with that.”

A good one here could see Hill, who was born in Fife but now lives in Perthshire, secure one of the three spots up for grabs in next week’s 153rd The Open at Royal Portrush, where MacIntyre, HotelPlanner Tour player Daniel Young and amateur duo Connor Graham and Cameron Adam are currently set to fly the Saltire.

“I've been trying my best,” he declared. “There were also a few avenues this year that I've just felt short of as the last chance. No matter what happens, I'm playing golf next week.” That’s because, as a back up, he has entered the Barracuda Championship, a DP World Tour and PGA Tour co-sanctioned event taking place in California alongside the season’s final major.

“Every single year, I finish on a Sunday feeling disappointed I didn't get into The Open because you're trying to get a last spot, and then I never fly,” he added. “So I've booked flights, and I'm going. No matter what, I'm playing golf next week. But yeah, The Open would be a bonus. I'd love to play Portrush.”

Recovering from what he described as a “ropey start”, MacIntyre was “really happy” with a two-under 68 in the company of world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and former Masters champion Adam Scott. It would probably have been a 72 a couple of years ago, but he is now handling setbacks like a three-putt on this occasion at the fourth - his 13th - a lot better.

“Yeah, it's something that I work hard on every week,” said MacIntyre. “The lid can still come off, don't worry about that (smiling). But I've got a level of performance now that I fully expect to achieve every day I go out there and golf. I prepare as well as I can, I do a lot more gym work, a lot more warm-ups before I even start hitting golf also.

“Before I used to just play golf, I didn't really care about what was going on before that. But there's such a high level of performance now in the world of golf and, for me. it's just a little ticking off hole by hole and you just gotta wait for your run and that's what I was doing.”

Even Scheffler, the game’s dominant force at the moment, admitted he’d been impressed on this occasion. “It was fun to watch him play some links golf,” admitted the three-time major winner, who started with an eagle at the tenth but was unable to fully capitalise on that as he signed for a 67. “I feel like I learned some stuff from him out there.”

The opposite would also have been the case on a day when MacIntyre enjoyed the thrill of teeing up for the first time on home soil as a defending champion. “Not really,” he replied to being asked if it had felt different to his previous appearances in this event.

“I mean, there's more attention, there's more eyeballs, there's more support. But I just go out there and play golf. I can't worry about what anyone else wants or what anyone else thinks. I just go out there and I'll fight as hard as I can and what will be will be.”

Despite a bogey at his final hole, local man Grant Forrest also carded a 67, which was a timely confidence-booster in his case, while KLM Open winner Connor Syme and Ewen Ferguson, who picked up four birdies on the spin early on, signed for matching 68s. Richie Ramsay, meanwhile, had a 70.