CLOSING IN ON THE MASTERS WITH ONE EYE ON THE RYDER CUP
IT’S A BIG YEAR FOR ROBERT MacINTYRE
FROM the azaleas in full bloom, to the mystique of Magnolia Lane and Amen Corner, there is an unalloyed joy to be found in the pristinely-manicured grounds of Augusta National.
It is without question one of the most instantly recognisable and picturesque venues in all of world sport. A kaleidoscope of rich colour which climaxes in a Green Jacket, it’s the sort of place high-definition TVs were made for.
This time 12 months ago, Robert MacIntyre could have been forgiven for thinking that watching on telly was as close as he would get to the Masters.
Or, at least, it would be for a few years. But the landscape has altered quite dramatically for the young Scot, who has just completed a remarkable debut season on the European Tour.
His world ranking has spiked so dramatically that it ought to come with a health warning. From being ranked 247th in the world at the start of 2019, he now sits 64th after a year of unrelenting success.
Knocking on the door of the game’s global elite, the rewards are limitless. An invite to Augusta will be his if he can break into the top 50 and stay there prior to the tournament in April.
Not bad at all for someone whose sole ambition at the outset of last season was simply to retain his playing rights on the European Tour.
Yet, after merely a dozen events of the 2019 campaign, it soon became glaringly obvious that just keeping his card was never going to be the grand sum of MacIntyre’s efforts.
He has had to recalibrate his ambitions since those early days — and competing at Augusta may well represent the first major staging post of 2020 if all goes to plan.
But there is a bigger picture. It won’t just be Georgia on MacIntyre’s mind. There will be another venue in America occupying his thoughts when the action resumes in the new season.
Whistling Straits in Wisconsin will host the Ryder Cup in September and, for the young lefty, representing Team Europe is now a clear and stated target.
His form demands that it has to be. Having just finished 11th in the Race to Dubai and been named Rookie of the Year in his debut campaign, MacIntyre has an irresistible weight of momentum heading into 2020.
Speaking in November, the 23-year-old said: ‘There are going to be goals that are beyond what I thought I could achieve early on.
‘If we can keep improving, then Ryder Cups and top 50 in the world are all achievable.’
Since MacIntyre burst on to the professional scene, much of the narrative around him has been shaped around his modest and humble background in Oban.
After landing his first big pay cheque by finishing second at the British Masters in May, he joked about using the money to buy his mum, Carol, a new kitchen.
When speaking to Sportsmail at the pro-am Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in September, MacIntyre dropped another zinger.
Asked about rubbing shoulders with the A-list of showbiz and world sport, he quipped: ‘Paul Scholes came up to me last week (at Wentworth).
‘I was like: “Oaft, there’s Paul Scholes”. But he introduced himself and we had a nice chat.
‘Everyone is here — movie stars, the lot. You look at them and you think: “I’ve seen you in this film, in that film, loads”.
‘I wouldn’t say I have celebrity status. I still live in Oban — it’s nice and hidden up there.’
Yet, away from the narrative of his refreshingly grounded nature, there is another word which underpins everything he has achieved to date: Fearless.
The fearless way he called out Kyle Stanley and absolutely slaughtered the American — and rightly so — for his failure to shout fore after some wayward shots during the Open Championship in July.
One of the most important unwritten rules in golf etiquette, Stanley was far too slow in shouting as his ball headed straight towards the crowd.
It happened not once but twice — and, on one occasion, his ball struck the mother of MacIntyre’s caddie Greg Milne.
MacIntyre wasn’t impressed. Rookie or not, he hauled the more experienced Stanley over the coals in a scathing post-round interview.
There was also the fearless way he tackled that whole week at Royal Portrush. On his major championship debut, he stormed to a tied-sixth finish after a sterling final round of 68.
Or his fearless approach to the game in general. His gung-ho, all-out-attack style was never more evident than at the Italian Open in October.
His driver off the deck — one of the toughest shots in the game — at a 623-yard par five ended up being one of the shots of the season, given that he knocked it stiff.
It was a shot which his idol Phil Mickelson would have been proud of and MacIntyre’s style of play is undeniably similar to that of the American.
Not just in terms of the fact they are both left-handed, but that their shot-making abilities are invariably fearless and entertaining in equal measure.
The aforementioned secondplaced finish at the British Masters was one of three runnersup spots in a year which saw MacIntyre amass over ¤2million in prize money. If he carries on his current trajectory over the course of 2020, he will be heading inexorably on to captain Padraig Harrington’s team for the Ryder Cup showdown at Whistling Straits. Harrington has already witnessed at close quarters just what MacIntyre is capable of after the pair played together during the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre last season. ‘I’ve been really, really impressed with him,’ said Harrington of MacIntyre. ‘I’d be very happy if he plays his way into my team.’ Given MacIntyre’s penchant for links golf, it feels like the perfect fit. Whistling Straits is as close to a links layout as you’ll find anywhere in America. Beyond his exploits at Portrush, MacIntyre has an outstanding track record on links courses which extends back to his
amateur days. He also excels in matchplay, as he demonstrated in the 2017 Walker Cup — the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup — against the Americans in California.
He went undefeated in two singles matches against Cameron Champ — thumping the highlyrated young American 6&4 before halving the second contest.
There is little doubt MacIntyre would relish the opportunity to do battle with the Americans once again as the Europeans look to retain the Ryder Cup.
As a golfing nation, Scotland needs someone to go on and make themselves a fixture in the European team over the next decade — and all the evidence to date suggests MacIntyre may well be that man.
Since Colin Montgomerie called it a day in 2006, only two men — Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher — have represented Scotland in a Ryder Cup.
If MacIntyre can get over the line and turn a few of those runners-up finishes into wins in 2020, he will help his cause immeasurably.
Truth be told, he could hardly have done much more last season. Ticking that particular box feels like only a matter of time.
He played tremendously well at the British Masters but ultimately came up a little bit short.
In finishing a shot behind winner Paul Casey at the Porsche European Open in Germany, MacIntyre’s putter went cold down the stretch while Casey knocked it out the park with a flawless final round of 66.
At the Made in Denmark event in May, he again finished just a shot behind the winner. It was Bernd Wiesberger on that occasion, a man who won three times across the season and finished third in the Race to Dubai.
So he’s not far away. If MacIntyre can continue to do what he’s been doing — and get his putter to behave more often on Sunday afternoons — the sky will be the limit for him over the coming months. At the 72nd and final hole at the European Open in Hamburg, he could easily have laid up as he sought to secure another huge pay-cheque.
But he went straight for the flag — and only just cleared the water with his second shot. It was an incredibly high-risk strategy.
Asked afterwards if he had any thoughts of laying up, MacIntyre said: ‘No, I wanted to win. That’s the way I play.
‘You can make money, but what are you remembered for?
‘The guy who keeps finishing second or the guy who keeps winning?
‘I want to be remembered as a winner. Since I’ve turned pro, I’ve had five second places and got beaten in two play-offs on the Challenge Tour. I’ve just not had my turn yet.’
His turn will come soon. The fearless attitude of this young superstar from Glencruitten in Oban is sure to elevate him to new heights in 2020.