Bob MacIntyre braced for US Open 'carnage' at Shinnecock Hills

The Long Island venue is staging the USGA event for a third time, with Brooks Koepka winning the most recent edition there, making a successful title defence in the process, in 2018 with a one-over-par total.

In the first round in that event, Rory McIlroy tied his career-worst major score to par with an 80 after being one of the favourites heading into the week and duly missed the cut for a third US Open in a row.

In the same event, Phil Mickelson famously had a meltdown in the third round, hitting his ball as it was still moving on the 13th green and ending up with a 10 after being hit with a two-shot penalty.

In preparation for his first competitive outing at Shinnecock Hills, where Scot James Foulis won the first US Open to be staged there in 1896, MacIntyre paid a visit just before the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Park, which also sits on Long Island but closer to New York, last year.

The Oban man also visited Aronimink in Pennsylvania, venue for next month’s PGA Championship, around the same time and admits he is expecting tough tests in both of the upcoming majors.

“I've visited them the week before the Ryder Cup,” he recalled, speaking at The Renaissance Club this week after his place in this year’s Genesis Scottish Open at the East Lothian venue had been confirmed. “Me, my caddie and my coach went for a little boys’ golf holiday. We played Pine Valley and then we drove up to Shinnecock before meeting with the (Ryder Cup) team on the Sunday night.

“Played with a member at Aronimink and a couple of tee changes from the normal. Kind of making it even longer, just for the world of golf, too, just now. So, it's going be long and tough.

Amazed by Rory McIlroy shooting 65

“And then Shinnecock could be absolutely carnage. I remember hitting a 4-iron into the 18th green. It was a different wind - a northerly - Mike, my caddie, was like, just keep watching this thing. It must have ran 40-50 yards off the green. I was like ‘wow’. It was not prepared for a golf tournament, just how the members would play it.”

MacIntyre smiled as was reminded about McIlroy’s 80. “Yeah, it was actually funny as I think almost all the Ryder Cup Europe team was playing that day,” he added. “It was me and Rosie [Justin Rose] with two members and we’ve come in and we're like ‘how hard is that place?’ And that day Rory shot a 65 or something. How is that possible?”

A third of the way through his 2026 campaign, MacIntyre is pretty pleased with how he has performed so far. Helped by top-five finishes in the Sony Open in Hawaii, The Players Championship and, most recently, the Valero Texas Open, he sits 17th in the FedEx Cup points list.

Statistically, he is ranked third in strokes gained for putting and eighth for strokes gained off the tee. The glaring weakness so far is that he sits 136th for strokes gained with approaches to the green.

“I think, overall, it's been good,” he said of his third full campaign on the PGA Tour. “I think it's actually my best start to season. Normally, I'm sitting about 50th-60th in the rankings at this point. Almost winning at Valero and then a decent week at The Players.”

Referring to a missed cut at the Masters after an opening 80 that included a quadruple-bogey 9 at the 15th, he added: “Obviously the other week wasn't how I wanted it to go. But I’ve missed one cut in a year and it was at the same place. So, it’s been a good start.”

Feels he is ‘completely different player’

MacIntyre currently sits 12th in the world rankings, having been a career-high fifth earlier in the year jumping from 76th to 39th on the back of his breakthrough PGA Tour triumph in the RBC Canadian Open just under two years ago then making another big jump on the back of also winning the Genesis Scottish Open a few weeks later.

“I’m a completely different player,” replied the two-time Ryder Cup player to being asked how Bob the golfer at the moment compares to the version two years ago. “I still play golf the same style, but I’m far more consistent, far more aware of what's going on, what needs to be improved.

“This year, there's just one problem - and it's my iron play. Other than that, it's been statistically very very good. So I just need to sort that out and then we'll be on our way.”