Bob MacIntyre made for 'big occasion' but warned he faces 'brutal' reception in New York

But Kiwi Ryan Fox, who secured a PGA Tour card at the same time as the Oban man and then succeeded him as the RBC Canadian Open champion, reckons Luke Donald will have his work cut out in his bid to stop the likes of MacIntyre engaging with a raucous crowd at Bethpage Black next week.

MacIntyre and Fox were paired together in the first two rounds of last week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, having found themselves in the same position on both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour quite a lot in recent seasons.

“I always enjoy playing with Bob - it is entertaining, as it was in the opening two rounds at Wentworth,” Fox, a two-time winner on the US circuit this year, told The Scotsman. “You can see it is all there as he prepares for a big event coming up. Yeah, I am sure he will be in good form for that.”

MacIntyre secured his second successive appearance in the biennial bout by finishing as Rory McIlroy’s closest challenger in a year-long points battle. He also heads into this contest in the world’s top ten.

“It’s 100 per cent a totally different situation this time than it was for Rome,” added Fox of the left-hander being a rookie for the match at Marco Simone Golf Club two years ago, when he was unbeaten in three games but is now, in the words of McIlroy, “one of the best players in the world”.

“I played with him in the third round of the US Open this year (when the Scot was pipped by J.J. Spaun after the American finished birdie-birdie at Oakmont) and you just knew he was going to give himself a chance to win,” said Fox.

“At half the other tournaments in that situation, he does win. J.J. finishing how he did was incredible and Bob can hold his head high that he did everything in his power to win the US Open and going into the Ryder Cup it’s a completely different scenario now.

“He’s an experienced player, he’s won on the PGA Tour, he’s contended in major and he’s given Scottie [Scheffler] a good run down the stretch. He’s always been a guy who isn’t scared of the big occasion. He’s always risen to it and I am sure he will take a couple of steps up going into the Ryder Cup this year being a bit more of a senior member than he was a couple of years ago.”

MacIntyre responded to a spectator who was giving him stick in the third round of the BMW Championship, one of the PGA Tour’s Play-Off events last month. Referring to that, Donald said he didn’t mind the 29-year-old having “fire in his belly” but wants him to use it the right way on Long Island.

“I can’t see Bob not engaging, to be honest,” declared Fox, laughing. “Yeah, I think it is going to be brutal. It will be much more like a football game or something like that than a golf crowd. I feel that goes both ways, though.

‘With a New York crowd, the heckling might come back the other way’

“It is obviously going to spur the Americans on, but they are also going to feel under pressure if they start playing poorly and I wouldn’t be surprised with a New York crowd if the heckling came back the other way if guys are struggling.

“It is going to be a great watch, I would obviously love to see Europe get it done and I guess on paper form-wise the Europeans have been really good. But it is pretty hard to win an away Ryder Cup, especially in New York.”