The Scottish star instantly cleared his head to maturely finish with solidity
20:24, 19 Jul 2025Updated 20:32, 19 Jul 2025
Bob MacIntyre
Burning Bob MacIntyre reckons it was fair game to lose the plot at The Open.
But the Scottish star instantly cleared his head to maturely finish with solidity and stay on course for another impressive Major result.
MacIntyre was mainly calm as he shot a Saturday 70, but a severe setback on the 14th hole saw him temporarily boil over.
The Oban star let off severe steam twice down the par four as he dropped a shot at a key time just as he was looking to gain ground on the leaders.
MacIntyre’s second shot went into a greenside bunker and his reaction saw his club spin into the air having been fired angrily into the turf.
His subsequent sand shot then dribbled off the other side of the green and that also brought a feisty response as he cracked his offending wedge into his own bag.
But MacIntyre said: “I think it’s fair game to lose the plot every now and again. I feel like we’ve made the wrong decision off the tee, which then made the second shot really difficult as a left-handed golfer.
“Obviously in that bunker, bunker’s dead, first job is get out, then hit it over the top. I’ve lost the plot after both of those shots, a bit of anger came out.
“Then when I’m hitting that putt, I’ve got a clear head, got a job to do, get this thing up-and-down. I find it easy just now. I find it easier in the bigger golf tournaments, the ones where birdies aren’t happening all the time, when you can actually feel as though good golf gets rewarded.
“The tougher the test, the more I feel I can keep that discipline. The more there’s a birdie fest and a shootout, that’s when I lose it properly.”
MacIntyre was impressively philosophical after the third round as he assessed the overall afternoon and he explained: “I was a bit disappointed. I wasn’t as sharp as I’ve been the past couple days. Move forward.”
The Scottish star begins the final round eight shots behind runaway leader Scottie Scheffler who is bearing down on a fourth Major title.
MacIntyre knows catching the World No.1 is a task which no-one is going to envy as he revealed the deep admiration he has for the Texan hero, an admiration which was merely cemented during an eye-popping statistical check that he and his team undertook earlier this year.
He explained: “He’s by far the best player in the world. I remember the start of this year, I asked [caddie] Mike with the stats guy to look at all the stats to see how close we are to No.1 in the world. Mike stopped after a couple of stats checked and he went to No.2 because he realised it!
“I mean, when we checked the stats, Scheffler was further ahead of No.2 in the world than I was at wherever I was, 15, 16 in the world to No.2. He’s an exceptional player, great guy. Yeah, works so hard.”
MacIntyre had left the course on Friday afternoon in bullish mood having felt that, with his Friday 66 in the bag and the weather seemingly turning for the worst for the afternoon starters, his starting Saturday position would be even stronger than the five-shots behind Scheffler that he began.
He explained: “When I went home last night, when I left here yesterday, I thought beautiful links golf working its magic and I’m sitting on my couch almost in tears because I’m watching flags are limp, guys are spinning it on greens.
“I thought walking away from here [on Friday] thanking that I wouldn’t be more than three shots back, ended up five shots back from the best player in the world, and it feels like, yes, you can still be in it if something happens, but you just feel that little bit too far back.
“I don’t know if that had an effect on me on what I felt. I was having to push a little bit more and a couple of mistakes came in early on. Now tomorrow is to go out there and finish as high as we can, get as many World Ranking and Ryder Cup points as we can.”
MacIntyre’s attitude is always to go for it if the opportunity is there to win, but he knows the enormity of the challenge and understands it may end up just a case of grabbing another high outcome to back-up his runner-up slot at last month’s US Open.
He said: “Unless I get off to a hot, hot start, it’s probably out the window. If we don’t get off to a hot start, it’s going to be how high can we finish here. Unless I do have a hot start and I see myself close to the lead and within a few shots, then we’ll throw the kitchen sink at it. But seeing the leaderboard, it’s just jogging for position.”