Mum will make sure my US Open debut is a piece of cake
Home cooking inspires MacIntyre at Winged Foot
BOB MacINTYRE reckons mum Carol’s baking can sweeten his hopes of hosting a US Open party in his housebound papa’s front garden.
The Scottish star is building towards Thursday’s start at Winged Foot with the comfort of home treats and thoughts of loved ones back in Oban.
MacIntyre believes he can mix it with the likes of Dustin Johnson if he can emulate the World No.1’s cool outlook.
And the 24-year-old is going to be in the perfect frame of mind at the season’s second Major having found the ideal recipe to chill out away from the venue within the Covid bubble restrictions.
MacIntyre said: “My mum is going to do the cooking and keep everything in check. The sticky toffee pudding and banoffee pie is on the menu. We have it all.
“She understands she might not be able to get in to the course and she’s fine with that. She’s trying to keep everything so that when I finish my round I’m not panicking about how we’re getting dinner.
“I’m not the greatest at cooking, while coach Davie Burns can hardly work a microwave let alone cook.
“I was the man to do the cooking at the PGA Championship as well. It was just basics. Fajitas, spag bol, homemade chips is the speciality just now. That came from my sister, she taught me how to do that.
“I have tried to lose a bit of weight and that can easily be put on by eating out but my mum is going to be there so the food will be good.
“It’s about being comfortable. For me it’s more off the course which is where I need to perform for my golf to be there.
“Having a member of my family there is huge. It worked last year at all the events. At all the British events I had my whole family there.
“I need a bit of carnage outside the golf course to keep me sane.”
MacIntyre knows the importance of staying chilled. Placed under the protocols, he admits some players have found it difficult to handle.
He explained: “In Europe, it’s a tight ship. I’m not coping with it great. I’ve found a way of doing it, bring the Playstation and whatnot and just pass time.
“If I’m being honest, others are struggling worse than me. You are seeing there are more withdrawals mid-round just now than ever. It’s just getting too much for some guys and they just explode and call it a day.
“In the US, guys are sharing houses. Once you’ve been tested at the start of the week, it’s like a normal golf tournament. It’s a bit more bearable.”
Nothing is the same at the moment. The infamously boisterous New York crowds will be missing at Winged Foot, just as they were at the PGA at Harding Park last month.
Having famously called out
American Ame Kyle Stanley for his failure failur to shout “fore” at The Open in PortrushPo last year, MacIntyre joked it’s better he’s got no locals to hecklehe him. Instead, In it’s just man against course. cou MacIntyre is in with the elite but he won’t mix with them unless unl he feels he has earned it. He H said: “I don’t need to go and put pu my name in a hat with Phil Mickelson M and Tiger to play practice pr rounds when I don’t know k these guys and they don’t
The sticky puddin toffee gand banoffe on e pie is the menu. have it We all BOB MACINTY RE
know me. I don’t go trying to learn something by playing with someone I don’t actually know and can’t banter with.”
Rather than trying to seek out pal Patrick Reed or Johnson pre-tournament, he’d rather join them in a Sunday shoot-out.
He said: “All I know is that if I’m coming down the stretch with DJ on a Sunday then I’m doing something right.
“It’s about almost going to war. I love competing. I love going toe to toe with folk and getting the blood rushing.
“I watched the highlight reel of all his hole-outs on social media and how he reacts.
“If I’m holing out to win a golf tournament, I’m going mental. He just waves his hand then saunters up and picks the ball out of the hole as if it’s what he does.”
If MacIntyre did win it? It’d be back for a special celebration.
Covid-19 has brought home some serious realities to everyone in the world and MacIntyre is no different as he paid tribute to his grandfather and the difficulty of isolation.
He said: “If I catch this thing then it’s not me that’s going to get affected. It’s the knock-on effect it’s going to have on older people within my family.
“I have not seen my papa Dougie for 20 weeks I would say. He’s in his mid-80s, he loves a good chit-chat, but I don’t want to go and risk what’s going on for us to see each other.
“I can wave to him out the window but other than that it’s about staying safe. He lives just down the road. Everyone else has been to see him but I just don’t know what I’m carrying.
“Obviously I’m getting tested every week for it but I just don’t feel like it’s the right thing for me to do.
“I’m sure he would be hanging out the window celebrating if I win with a rum and coke or something like that. We will see what happens.”