Sorry it’s taken that long to get the diary up and running folks. But then everything about getting things going at the Open Championship takes a long time these days. Queues to shuffle in, lanyards to drape round your neck, passes to show, shuttle buses to hop on to, bags to get searched, security guards to plead to, elbowing, finger jabbing, bickering and general teeth gnashing? And that’s just the Herald team getting out of the ruddy office at Renfield Street.

The Olympics eh? All the huffing and puffing about golf and the Games has caused a quite frightful stooshie this week but at least the whole palaver comes with its own ready-made excuse which may yet be extended into other sporting arenas. Poor old Brendan Rodgers, for instance, is already feeling hot under the collar following Celtic’s spirited defeat to the mighty Lincoln Red Imps the other night. If it all goes belly up in the second leg, surely the Parkhead press office can just trot out a statement saying: “Celtic are withdrawing from the Champions League due to concerns over the Zika virus.”

The first time this Royal & Ancient game appeared at the Olympics was back in 1900 when Glasgow solicitor David Robertson was one of those gowfing trail blazers who teed-it up. There was plenty to tickle the fancy in Paris that year. Ballooning, Basque pelota, cannon shooting, Longue paume, kite flying? “Stuff that matters,” as Rory McIlroy would say.