Mighty MacIntyre takes Dunhill by storm
GOLF’S equivalent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descended on the Dunhill Links Championship yesterday and caused widespread carnage. Torrential rain and winds gusting up to 45mph threatened to wash out the second round of the $5million (£4.5m) tournament. A combination of hard-working greenkeepers and a brave 168-strong field refused to let the elements win and, remarkably, play was completed by mid to late afternoon. However, 35 players failed to better 80 and only three signed for rounds in the 60s in conditions that ripped away any vestige of enjoyment for spectators faced with up to six hours of frozen hands and soaking feet. Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre was one of the few to escape relatively unscathed at Kingsbarns, which was the most exposed of the courses. The two-time DP World Tour champion from Oban signed for a hugely impressive 70 to move up to joint-fifth heading into the weekend and later said: ‘It got to a point where it wasn’t even golf. It was brutal, probably the hardest conditions I’ve ever played in, especially the closing seven or eight holes. ‘I think I went through about 12 gloves on the last six holes and three towels. I’m soaked through and I’ve got water in my shoes. But I just had to laugh, which is the way I play my best golf — with a smile on my face.’ MacIntyre sits four shots off the lead held by England’s Richard Mansell, one of a select band to finish in red figures when he signed for the lowest round of the day, a 68 at the Old Course. Mansell has a two-shot advantage over Sweden’s Alex Noren who carded 69 at Kingsbarns to finish on eight-under, with France’s Antoine Rozner and Niklas Moller of Denmark still tied third, a shot further back after matching 74s. Spare a thought, meanwhile, for Alexander Knappe, who recorded the highest score of a troubled day. The 33-year-old German found himself anchored somewhere between heaven and hell when he played the front nine at the Old Course in level par 36 while then taking an additional 16 strokes to complete the back nine in 52.