Castles made of sand
Bernd reels in Bob as fourshot lead is washed away
But the Scot is adamant he will not stop fighting on today’s f inal lap of the Green Eagle Course after digging in to keep his name top of the leaderboard.
German Bernd Ritthammer joined MacIntyre there after the 23- year- old’s four- shot overnight lead evaporated by the turn in Hamburg.
Despite finding himself two behind his playing partner on the back nine, the Oban star steadied himself as a birdie four at the last earned a two-over 74 to finish the day on nine under.
MacIntyre, chasing a maiden European Tour title, said: “I was hoping for another round under par. Things just didn’t go my way today. I had a couple of bad lies early on – which didn’t help things. Having to bump and run a seven-iron on your second hole isn’t how you want to start.
“I fought well – I’m going to fight until the end, it doesn’t matter where I am on the leaderboad, whether it is bottom or top.
“Every point counts. Today I showed my fight and to birdie the last to tie the lead was huge.”
Asked if the pressure of a four-shot lead contributed to a poor start, he said: “I don’t think it was a factor, it was always in the back of my head you’ve got shots to spare so your foot is not down. Whereas when I lost the lead I fought all the way to the end and thought, ‘Do you know what, I don’t want to lose this lead so we just keep fighting.’
“Dave (my caddie) did a good job of keeping me calm, keeping a positive mindset, and to get away with a birdie at the end was huge. I was getting a bit annoyed with myself, I was hitting good shots and the ball was finishing a yard off the fairway here or there.
“You can’t commit to an iron shot into a tight pin when you don’t have ful l control of the turf. Dave said, ‘ Look you can’t keep hitting good shots and getting this unlucky.’ He was calling it unlucky, I was calling it bad shots. But he just told me to keep fighting and it’s a 72-hole tournament, not a 54-hole.” Ryder Cup star Paul Casey lurks one back after a 69, while Austrian Matthias Schwab (70) and Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal (68) both sit on seven under. MacIntyre said: “It’s just about the belief. I’m going to go out there and play my best golf. If it’ s enough, it’s enough. If it’s not, it’s not. We’re always going to learn and today was a huge learning experience.”