Macintyre: I’d rather take stick than have yes men in my team
Bob Macintyre reckons he’ll be “hung out to dry” by his support team over a costly poor decision that killed off his chance of being in the Betfred British Masters mix on the final day at The Belfry.
But the Oban man is ready to take any criticism on the chin because he doesn’t want to be surrounded by “yes men” in his bid to start climbing backup the world rankings.
Mac in ty re, who’ d climbed the leader board with five birdies in his last six hole son friday, came a cropper at the iconic tenth hole in the third round.
Tempted to go for the green with the tees moved up, he ran up a double-bogey 6 then compounded the situation by taking a triple-bogey 7 at the next hole.
“I fi could take one shot back, it would be the tee shot on 10 yesterday, just to pull myself back from the situation that led to what happened on 11 because, at the end of the day, those two holes cost me to be in there with a chance today,” he admitted.
“If I’d hung back and played sensible, 11 wouldn’t have happened off the back of 10. The thing is, though, that I play golf on the line. I get bored, if I’m being blatantly honest.
“I could knock a wedge down that hole all day, but i’ d get bored by that. i want t oh ave fun when I’m playing golf and having fun is by being aggressive anddisappointments come from that .”
Mac in ty re birdied the ten thin the final round, signing off with a 69 for a two-under total that was set to see him finish around 30th spot in an event hosted by Danny Willett.
As he reflected on the week, he admitted that he expected to be called out by members of his team for that decision on Saturday, especially with a run of scoring holes to come on the back nine.
“We’ll have a good team chat during this week and I am sure there will be a few harsh words directed at me from people in my team,” he said of coach David Burns, performance manager Stuart Morgan, cad die mike thomson and manager Iain Stoddart.
“But that’s the only way I can deal with it, them being honest. If they are just ‘yes’ men, then they shouldn’t be there. They are going to hang me out to dry at times and I’ll rip into them at points.
“As long as we are honest with each other and tell it how it is behind closed doors, then we can move forward.”