Latest news with #BobMacIntyre
Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Bob MacIntyre is Mr Salvage at the Travelers as he shows the world US Open heroics are only the start
Scottish star fights back to finish level on the day ahead of final round in Connecticut Battling Bob MacIntyre fought back to salvage Saturday and stay in the red at the Travelers Championship The Scottish star endured a see-saw Saturday at TPC River Highlands where a mid-round slip offered a big setback in his tournament. MacIntyre could not have started better with a birdie at the first, but any notion it was going to be smooth sailing were dispelled. The Oban ace, who finished a brilliant runner-up at last week's US Open, exchanged shots with the course until the 12th hole when an out-of-character double-bogey saw him slip to two-over par for the day and back to level for the tournament. It was at that stage where MacIntyre pulled out some customary quality and grit to recover that lost ground and, with two birdies before getting the clubhouse, he was able to sign for a level-par 70 and ensure there was no damage inflicted on the day. After the 27th round of a punishing seven-week spell which has seen him take in the Truist Championship, PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge, Memorial, RBC Canadian Open and US Open before this Travelers, MacIntyre will now complete this American sequence on Sunday before returning home for a short break before the defence of his Genesis Scottish Open title and The Open Championship at Royal Portrush the following week. He also has the opportunity over the final 18 holes of the Travelers event to make some more small gains in The Ryder Cup rankings with the individuals either side of him in the European points list trailing behind him going into the last round. While MacIntyre is currently fourth in the standings after his stunning Oakmont effort, third-placed Shane Lowry found some weekend form with a four-under par round of 66 to move some places on the leaderboard. The Irishman had been struggling over the opening two rounds at TPC River Highlands, but was back in his best light with five birdies en route to a 66. Fifth-placed Sepp Straka is also in the Scot's wake at the moment and he sits at two-over par going into Sunday, but the Austrian star, who has two wins on the PGA Tour under his belt already this term, also carded his best effort of the week on Saturday with a 67. Swedish star Ludvig Aberg is also in red figures after a second-successive round of one-under moved him to a shot under the course par, but there was a huge move made by Matt Fitzpatrick. The English star has struggled to recapture his best form through the past year and has admitted that he is on the fringes of Luke Donald's side looking ahead of Bethpage as he told Sky: 'Being experienced now and knowing how it works, I'm not trying to force the issue. I'm not texting Luke saying: I really want to be there, it's really important for me. If I play well, I'll be there. If I don't play well, I won't be there. I'm happy to accept that.' Fitzpatrick knows his clubs need to do the talking and he produced a sizzling Saturday effort of 63 to rocket up the standings and onto four-under par. The Sheffield star didn't card a single dropped shot as he blitzed his way around the Connecticut circuit to surge to edges of the Top 20. Norwegian Viktor Hovland was not going to be outdone and he matched the number posted by Fitzpatrick with his own 63 to sweep into the Top 10 and give himself an outside chance of a run at the trophy. Hovland came within inches of going one lower and matching the scores of Australian Adam Scott and Canadian Taylor Pendrith, but his birdie effort at the last stayed on the edge of the cup and he remained on the six-under par mark.
The Herald Scotland
20 hours ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Watching someone from your part of the world thrive is deeply moving
A lad from Oban. A former shinty player. A Nike athlete now carving his name into golf's global conversation. It's the kind of story that sticks with you not just because of the golf, but because of what it represents. In a world of meticulously planned coaching academies, perfect-weather practice facilities, and high-performance pathways, here's a reminder that greatness can also come from gritty winter mornings in Argyll, from muddy shinty pitches, and from a love of sport that runs deep in the blood. For young Scottish players especially those still hacking around their local course or just starting to believe that sport might offer them something more Bob MacIntyre is the kind of beacon they need. We talk about representation a lot, but this is what it really looks like: a local lad making it all the way, not by being plucked from a golf school pipeline, but through sheer ability, determination, and love for the game. He makes it feel possible. And that sense of possibility is powerful. You can't fake the vicarious buzz of watching someone who sounds like you, who shares your sporting DNA, competing against the game's biggest names and coming out with his head held high. It plants a seed not of entitlement, but of belief. Now, don't get me wrong I'm under no illusion I'll ever swing it like Bob Mac. Even before two fractured ribs put me on the sidelines, my golf was more grit than grace. But watching him at the U.S. Open this week did something to me. It made me want to get the club back in my hand as soon as I can. I won't play like him, but that's not the point. The point is drive and his performance has given me plenty of that. When you're carrying injuries, or trying to rewire your body after major setbacks, motivation can waver. You lose a bit of rhythm, then maybe a bit of confidence, and before you know it the clubs start gathering dust. But then someone like Bob reminds you what it feels like that hunger to test yourself, to be part of something bigger than the scorecard. MacIntyre's background in shinty one of the toughest, most unforgiving sports going makes his rise even more impressive. There's a certain rawness to players who come through that route. It's not just the physicality, though that certainly helps. It's the mindset. The willingness to scrap, to graft, to find a way when conditions are against you. That's the Scottish sporting mentality at its best and golf, a game that can test your mental fortitude to the limits thrives seeing people like Bob almost win the US open. There's no question this moment is a huge boost for Scottish golf. We've had greats before, legends like Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie, but it's been a while since a young Scot made this much noise on such a big stage. With so many distractions pulling at young athletes and with golf sometimes struggling to compete with flashier, faster-moving sports Bob's performance is a jolt of electricity. It reminds kids across Scotland that their story doesn't have to stay small. That their swing, honed on windy fairways or parkland courses battered by rain, can take them somewhere. It also reminds us those later to the game, those playing with physical limits, those just trying to keep going that there's still plenty of joy to be found in chasing the game. Even when you're not breaking 80. Even when your ribs are protesting. Even when your body doesn't quite do what it used to. I've played a handful of rounds in recent months, still finding my feet on the course, still learning what my body will tolerate. And though progress is slow, the game is slowly taking hold of me. Watching the U.S. Open with Bob Mac in the mix, wasn't just entertainment, it was fuel, and the reminder to be where your feet are. Not just for me, but for thousands of us across Scotland who've ever dared to imagine ourselves in the game. MacIntyre has made it real. He's turned potential into performance. He's shown that a wee lad from Oban can go toe-to-toe with the world's best and do it with humility, humour, and that quiet Highland resilience. For all the data and the swing speeds and the coaching gadgets that dominate the modern game, sometimes what you really need is a story like this, one that cuts through the noise and lands right in the gut. A reminder that the game is still ours, and the dream is still alive. So, thank you, Bob. You've done more than play well. You've reminded a nation and at least one sore-ribbed golfer watching from the sidelines just how far this game can take us.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Bob MacIntyre in late dampener at Travelers on first outing after US Open high
Tartan ace has water issues late in the round at TPC River Highlands Bob MacIntyre suffered a late dampener after his US Open highs at the beginning of his bid for success at the Travelers Championship. The Scottish star went straight to Connecticut from the high-drama and thrills of his near-miss at Oakmont to the final signature event of the year on the PGA Tour at TPC River Highlands. MacIntyre's opening round at the Travelers saw him make him a slip on the penultimate hole which left him at one-over par for tournament. The Oban ace carded 14 pars through his round and was sitting at one-under with two to go when he smashed a ball into the water. MacIntyre walked off with a double after that setback and signed for the 71 at the conclusion of his first effort post- Oakmont. The Tartan hero is competing for the seventh-successive week having undertaken a gruelling stretch ahead of his return to Europe. MacIntyre started out at the Truist Championship in the second week of May and has continuing unbroken through the PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge, Memorial, RBC Canadian Open and US Open before making it to the Travelers. His efforts have paid off with a surge to World No.12 in the Official World Gold Rankings and a fourth-position slot in the qualifying standings for Europe's Ryder Cup side for the match against the United States at Bethpage in September. MacIntyre has said: 'If you are planning a schedule, you probably wouldn't do six weeks, never mind going to a seventh [at the Travelers]. But I make big calls and I trust what I do. I just felt that was the right thing and we've built some good momentum and then a result like this comes. Look, I've put a lot of work into this. It's not just happening through luck. I've built a team around me that I think are the best I can get and they can support me. People that are known and people that are still unknown. I trust every one of them pretty much with my life. 'I mean, this is my job and this is my life, but it's all about trust. I trust them and they obviously trust me to go out there and try to deliver, as I almost did on this occasion.' MacIntyre is due to return home to Oban for a rest period before his defence of the Genesis Scottish Open title at The Renaissance next month. Once he's done in East Lothian, the Scots hero will then across to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the 153 Open Championship convinced he can do damage after his strong run at Oakmont. MacIntyre believes he can seriously contend and, straight after the US Open, said: 'There's no reason why I can't win a major championship in my career and that's my goal now. I said I wanted to win the Scottish Open and I got that. I just want to win Majors now.'
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Bob MacIntyre drops incredible Ryder Cup claim directly about himself that shows the world his insatiable desire
In-form Scottish star looking to extend smart sequence at TPC River Highlands In-form Bob MacIntyre can finish a sharp sequence in style and take more key Ryder Cup steps with another big week at the Travelers Championship. The Scottish star is in Connecticut for the final Signature Event of 2025 on the PGA Tour looking to maintain an impressive run. MacIntyre came agonisingly close to winning the US Open at Oakmont last weekend as he finished outright runner-up behind JJ Spaun. The 28-year-old was playing for the sixth successive week in the States and hasn't missed any available cuts in that spell since starting out at the Truist Championship in the second week of May and continuing unbroken through the PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge, Memorial, RBC Canadian Open and US Open. MacIntyre's work has him up to fourth in The Ryder Cup points standings as he chases down a place in skipper Luke Donald's European team for September's clash with United States. He said: 'As far as the Ryder Cup is concerned, that's where I want to be. I want to play every Ryder Cup from now until the day I retire.' MacIntyre is looking to sign-off the spell in style at TPC River Highlands with his superb recent form taking up to No.12 in the Official World Golf Rankings. The Tartan star is putting in the hard yards and said: 'I was going to take a week off and not play Colonial, but my game has been feeling good and I believed that a result was coming so we decided to play Colonial, which was good. I had Mikey Thomson on the bag for that and we got a Top 10 there. 'I am starting to see things happening with my game. Driver, putter, everything. I feel things coming and just have to keep going and keep going until I get that result. If you are planning a schedule, you probably wouldn't do six weeks, never mind going to a seventh [at the Travelers]. 'But I make big calls and I trust what I do. I just felt that was the right thing and we've built some good momentum and then a result like this comes. Look, I've put a lot of work into this. It's not just happening through luck. I've built a team around me that I think are the best I can get and they can support me. People that are known and people that are still unknown. I trust every one of them pretty much with my life. 'I mean, this is my job and this is my life, but it's all about trust. I trust them and they obviously trust me to go out there and try to deliver, as I almost did on this occasion.' MacIntyre will get a short break after the Travelers and return home to get ready for the next stretch which begins at The Renaissance and the defence of his Genesis Scottish Open title before a huge following week in the hunt for the next major at The Open at Royal Portrush. He said: 'I can't wait to get home, to be honest. This will be an 11-week stretch for me in the US and it's tough for me and [girlfriend] Shannon. But we're out here to do a job and that's to play good golf. My attitude has been up and down, but we are trying our best out there and that's all you can do.'
Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Bob MacIntyre always was a class act, now his golf is of highest class too
Sitting in a wood-panelled scoring building at Oakmont, Bob MacIntyre watched and hoped for a play-off. His fate was in the damp and sweaty hands of JJ Spaun, but the American needed a par on the testing 18th hole to beat him. The longest putt of the tournament ushered in a birdie and what the winner called a 'fairytale', but the next few moments defined why MacIntyre is such a likeable figure. In those raw seconds he sucked in the drama rather than the disappointment, clapped his hands and said 'wow' at the TV screen. Not long after he added two more words. 'Fair play.' And it was. Fair play — and a bit fantastic, too. Of course, this will sting. MacIntyre, 28, read Oakmont better than most all week and had predicted even par would be the winning score, so he was also close in that regard — Spaun finished on one under; MacIntyre one over. After the Scotsman had finished, other contenders started to encounter all sorts of trouble. Only Spaun, heroically defiant, remained. But MacIntyre's magnanimity in the Sunday night gruel was something to cherish. Not long before Spaun made his enormous 64ft putt, the longest by anyone all week, MacIntyre had happily fielded a few questions. He was asked how he had spent the 90-minute weather delay? 'I went up to the locker room, stole an air conditioning unit and pointed it towards my shirt to dry it off,' he said. It was suggested the dire weather would be no problem for a man raised in the coastal town of Oban. 'Fair-weather golfer now I've moved to the PGA Tour,' he deadpanned. More significant was the answer when asked if anyone had given him some words of wisdom during that hiatus. 'Not one thing,' he said. 'I'm a guy who believes.' This is the second uplifting act of grace by a defeated British golfer in recent times. At the Masters, Justin Rose cut an admirable figure as he buried his hurt to embrace Rory McIlroy at the top of his Everest. Rose was MacIntyre's Ryder Cup mentor and partner in 2023, when they were unbeaten in Rome. MacIntyre said he felt that he had let Rose down as they halved a match with Wyndham Clark and Max Homa, but he made up for it and then beat Clark in the singles. Fast forward and Clark has not been covering himself in glory of late. At last month's US PGA he flung a club at an advertising hoarding, breaking his driver and scaring a volunteer 'to death'. He apologised. This week, he was allegedly responsible for trashing members' lockers in the historic Oakmont clubhouse. Clark is a US Open winner but would be a more impressive man if he could be more Bob. After the result started to bite, MacIntyre spent some time with his tight support team, including girlfriend Shannon and long-term manager Iain Stoddart. They all know how significant this week has been. It is not as though MacIntyre has not had big victories — he won the Scottish and Canadian Opens last year — but playing so calmly in the context of a major that was proving too much for the biggest names showed a new strata of grit. He has always been a creative player and hinted at his DNA after the opening round here. While others, to borrow from veteran coach Pete Cowen, wore a 'dog's dead' expression, MacIntyre was brimming with enthusiasm for the fray. Did he have, erm, fun? 'I absolutely did because I like hitting crazy shots. I've just got to ride the horse and let the horse go at times,' he said. Sometimes this approach means superb birdies are quickly undone, but the 'roll the dice' method is thrilling. And to be three under par for his final 15 holes, and bogey free for his last dozen, was proof he can succeed in different ways. Only 63rd out of 66 finishers in terms of driving distance, he was fifth in accuracy off the tee. On the PGA Tour he is a top 15 player tee-to-green. He is now up to No12 in the world rankings, fourth in the Ryder Cup rankings, a shoo-in for Bethpage. Almost the first left-hander to win the US Open, he is different from most tour pros. Unafraid to air his struggles, he admitted he was homesick after joining the PGA Tour. When he made his breakthrough at the Canadian Open last summer, he had his dad, Dougie, as his stand-in caddie. 'I'm a grasscutter, no a caddie,' said MacIntyre Sr, the head greenkeeper at Glencruitten Golf Club. His son said one of the best things about his success was it meant his parents could pay off the mortgage for their home which backs on to the course. His parents have clearly grounded him, and growing up with foster siblings means that in a world of inflated prize funds he knows the difference between price and value. 'I've been in tears over it, kids going away from you,' he once said. There are lots of snippets that reveal his character. In 2021 he wore a black ribbon at the Masters, a tribute to the veteran golf writer Jock MacVicar, who had died. When he returned from the United States, MacIntyre drove 95 miles from Oban to the tip of the Kintyre peninsula to stand on the roadside and pay his respects as the funeral cortège passed; the funeral party had been restricted to 20. Another? At the Phoenix Open in February he tossed rolled up Oban Celtic shinty shirts into the well-oiled crowd. Each had $20 attached and the note: 'Get yourself a couple of beers. Cheers — B-Mac.' Oakmont was not a normal major course, but MacIntyre now has four top-tens at the majors. His previous best? A sixth at Royal Portrush in 2019, which just happens to be the venue for next month's Open. He believes he can do it now and that is not as easy as it sounds, but part of what makes an indelible sporting finale is the skill and reaction of the defeated. And he was not alone in losing well. Tyrrell Hatton gets a lot of flak, but he was being interviewed as Spaun nailed his putt of dreams. 'Oh, he's holed it,' he said as he watched a TV over reporters' shoulders. 'Unbelievable.' Then he broke into a wide, natural smile. 'What a putt to win!' Without rankings points on the LIV circuit, Hatton can take solace from his fourth place lifting him to second in the Ryder Cup rankings. The countdown for that will begin in earnest after the Open, but the pureness of respect for Spaun's victory bridged tribal boundaries. Cue Viktor Hovland's assessment of Spaun's trio of brilliant putts on the 12th, 14th and 18th: 'Just absolutely filthy.' Spaun, 34, is another who can mine his past for perspective. 'I've had slumps at every level,' said the man from LA. 'Last year in June it was looking like I was going to lose my job and I thought, 'If this is how I go out I might as well go down swinging'. That's kind of the mantra I've had all year.' In 2018 he was misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes and said that trauma contributed to losing his PGA Tour card. Three years later he was re-diagnosed with type 1, by which time he had fallen outside the world's top 500. He is now up to No8. Believing he was done, he watched the rom-com Wimbledon last year, about a washed-up tennis pro who keeps fighting and wins the eponymous tournament, and said it convinced him to keep going. Close at The Players, where he lost the play-off to McIlroy, he had a shocking start on Sunday, dropping five shots in six holes, but the day had been complicated even before that. 'I was running to CVS [pharmacies] in downtown because my daughter had a stomach bug and was vomiting all night long,' he said. 'It was kind of a rough start to the morning. I'm not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mould of what was going on — the chaos.' Chaos and class: that is a pretty potent cocktail for anyone craving sporting gold.
