Talk about beating hasty retreats. If it’s not golfers withdrawing from the Olympics, then it’s pitiful politicians reversing out of arrangements with all the elegance of a man backing his car into the entire peloton of the Tour de France.
For the golfing scribblers, meanwhile, it’s forward march into battle. As the campaign hurtles towards its peak with the Scottish Open and the Open, and we are all battering away on the frontline for the next month or so, the close-quarters combat with fellow wordsmiths almost feels as if we are involved in some kind of long-term relationship.
And, as most folk will testify, that can have its rewards as well as its drawbacks. On one hand, there is the companionship, security, affection and respect. On the other, the eye-watering monotony of seeing the same saggy old visions hirpling and doddering about 24/7.
Read more: Forsyth finds golfing peace on the home front
Here at Castle Stuart this week for the domestic showpiece, a sight for sore eyes would be a Scot sitting pretty in the upper echelons of the standings on home turf. With the exception of the current standard bearer, Russell Knox, our male professionals have not been doing much to rouse the senses of late. Indeed, peering at various leaderboards over the past few weeks has been about as uplifting as reading an eviction notice.
As Paul Lawrie said to a gathering of scribes last week, “it’s just not happening.” In this fickle old game, where form and fortune can fluctuate in a similar way to the value of the pound after that Brexit palaver, our leading lights have gone off the boil like wonky kettles.
Marc Warren, for instance, had the highest placing of his career on the final Race to Dubai rankings last year when he rose to 25th in Europe. This season, he has slithered down to 129th on the order of merit and closing rounds of 79 and 77 in the French Open last weekend to finish second last of those who made the cut was hardly the kind of morale booster you’d want heading into two of the biggest weeks of the campaign.
Across the pro board, it’s been decidedly modest and the worrying trend is that our younger players continue to toil. There is a void to fill – it’s been well-documented that Scott Jamieson is Scotland’s youngest home-based European Tour player at 32 – and that remains a concerning statistic in an era when the game is getting younger and younger and the depth of talent is getting deeper and deeper.
James Byrne and Michael Stewart, for example, are two former Walker Cup players with terrific amateur pedigrees but final day cards of 82 and 89 respectively in the Scottish Open qualifier at Moray over the weekend were damaging figures that can sap the confidence even further as they struggle to gain a solid foothold on the professional ladder. 
You don’t want to pick out individuals – there are plenty finding the going tough – but it’s merely to highlight the general hassles of those who were our next bright young things.
Barring some success this week, where there are still Open spots on offer for the leading finishers at Castle Stuart, Scotland will have just five players competing at Royal Troon, one more than the all-time low representation of four at Hoylake back in 2006.
The bold Colin Montgomerie will be among that number flying the flag at the club where he is an honorary member but the fact we are still championing a 53-year-old veteran who plays on the Senior Tour is something of an indictment.
Of course, some of Monty’s achievements and consistent conquests down the years remain unparalleled while the complexity of the character means he is still a huge, intriguing lure. The vast majority of spectators at Gailes Links last week for the Open qualifying event, in which he was ultimately successful, were there to watch the Monty show.
One minute he can be beaming like a man who’s being paid by square-metre of dentistry, the next he can be frowning like the late Les Dawson opening a disappointing bank statement.
It’s all part of the package and, love him or loathe him, he can still get the job done with that ferocious competitive instinct which shows no sign of wavering as he clambers the brae on the age front. Montgomerie remains as high profile as ever … but what does that say about our next generation?
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