Bob MacIntyre opens up on 'new life' as dad and how he is 'very good at getting away from golf'

A couple of hours later, he’d swapped the casual clothing he was wearing for golf garb to partner a team of former football players - Robbie Fowler, Eden Hazard and John Terry - in the star-studded BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am, but it was lovely to get a glimpse of ‘dad Bob’, as had been the case in a recent social media post.

“Yeah, it is massively different,” admitted MacIntyre, speaking exclusively to The Scotsman at the Surrey venue, of this having been his first year playing professional sport as a parent. “I think the lucky thing for me is that I am very good at getting away from golf. Some people aren’t as good at that. Once I am finished here, I’ll stick the clubs away and go and be dad.”

Fellow Scot Calum Hill also became a dad for the first time this year, with Connor Syme set to experience parenthood as well in a few weeks’ time. “I’ve been very good at not touching golf clubs,” added MacIntyre. “It is a good thing and it is a bad thing at times. But, if I’ve got a week off, I can get through it without touching a club the whole week then pull them out on the Monday and go and practice. Don’t get me wrong. When I am playing rubbish, I struggle to switch off. But, for the most part, I am very good at getting away from the game of golf and living a normal life.”

By his own admission, MacIntyre’s form at times this year may have been impacted by family matters, yet he still managed to make it all the way to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Play-Off finale, the 30-man Tour Championship, in Atlanta last month. “It was a decent year,” he said of his campaign on the US circuit. “It was one of those ones where my goal was to stay in the top 50 for obvious reasons (smiling due to the fact it guarantees he’ll be playing in the Signature Events again in 2027).

“Yeah, when I had a chance to get to East Lake, a lot of things were going on and I wasn’t really playing that good before I then had the big result in the BMW Championship, which got me into East Lake. That was huge. To finish in the top 30 is massive for me this year with everything that has changed and trying to balance my new life, really. It was difficult at the start but, overall, it has been brilliant. I’ve got some work to do on my golf game. I mean, it’s not been as plain sailing as I like it, but I feel like I am heading in the right direction.”

Earlier this week, MacIntytre was among 16 European players who visited Adare Manor as part of Luke Donald’s preparations for next year’s centenary edition of the Ryder Cup at the County Limerick venue. MacIntyre played on Donald’s winning teams in both Rome and New York and is determined to be part of the Englishman’s bid to create history by becoming the first captain from either side to be a three-time victor.

“It was good,” said the Scottish No 1 of the get-together. “It was a very chilled out look at the golf course. Yeah, it was great fun. I was paired with Sepp [Straka] and the two Fitzs [Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick] and we had a great laugh. We played a little match, but it was a lot of fun. I had never been there before and it was the same for a lot of people, so it was more about just seeing the course.

“From what we saw on Monday, it is very much a second-shot golf course, but they will probably narrow in the fairways and grow the rough and it will then become a priority to find the fairway off the tee to have a chance around the greens. Yeah, I think it is going to be a tough test. As a venue, it is mega. It’s an interesting place but beautiful.”

How did the left-hander feel compared to being at Marco Simone for something similar in 2023 before making his debut in the biennial contest? “It’s different being in a team environment with guys you are competing against all the time,” he said, smiling. “But, yeah, I am far more comfortable with everyone. I know everyone a lot better. Some on a personal level and some not as much because you don’t see them as much. But, overall, I feel far more comfortable in myself around these people.

“There wasn’t really any message from Luke. He just wanted us to go out and see the golf course and some of the vice captains were going around in buggies just checking in with every now and again, as was Luke. It was literally just a sight-seeing trip and it was good fun.”

In this week’s $9 million Rolex Series event, MacIntyre is flying the Saltire along with Hill, Syme, Scott Jamieson, Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson and David Law. “This is huge,” declared MacIntyre, who is among 11 players from the world’s top 20 in the line up. “This is the flagship event, isn’t it? Crowds support it incredibly well and you just need to look at the players’ lounge and the caddies’ lounge to see the quality of players here - it is superb. Yeah, it is one of the events you want to play in.”