Harmon hails ‘superstar’ Scot MacIntyre
BUTCH HARMON described Robert MacIntyre as ‘a superstar in the making’ as the young Scot teed off on his final round at Augusta last night. And although he never looked likely to trouble the pacesetters, the Masters debutant was certainly living up to that billing with another assured showing. Partnering American Tony Finau, MacIntyre got off to a poor start when he bogeyed the first after finding the greenside bunker. Then came something of a disaster when he went through the green at the parthree sixth before three-putting for a double bogey. But, in what has been a hallmark of his four days here, the 24-year-old former European Tour rookie of the year refused to panic. Consecutive birdies followed at the par-five eight and par-four ninth, and MacIntyre was back to one under heading into the back nine. A further gain was to come, this time with a birdie at the par-three 12th after a superb tee shot and measured putt. McIntyre, who tied sixth on his Open debut in 2019 at Royal Portrush, was now looking for a similar reward here in Georgia. Finishing in the top 12 would automatically qualify him for next year’s Masters. This is the kind of spirit we have grown used to seeing from the Oban left-hander, who had a rollercoaster first round of 74 on Thursday, but more than steadied the ship with a 70 on Friday that safely saw him through to the weekend while the likes of defending champion Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy tumbled out. Another 70 on Saturday left MacIntyre in good shape for yesterday’s final round.
And it has been refreshing to hear the young Scot say throughout this tournament how much he fancied his chances. ‘The course is right up my street,’ said MacIntyre on Saturday. ‘You’ve got to shape your shots. You can’t just step up and bomb it. ‘You’ve got to really think and, if you’re out of position, you’ve got to think even more. So I love the golf course and my game is in decent shape for it. ‘I’m not just here to make up the numbers. If I wasn’t here to win I would be sitting at home with my feet up watching it.’