Bob MacIntyre opens up on 'really good saves' at end of 'long day' in BMW PGA

The Oban man signed for a one-under-par 71 on the West Course at the Surrey venue, where his Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg set the clubhouse pace along with Frenchman Tom Valiant with matching 64s.

Playing in the same group as former winners Tyrrell Hatton and Ryan Fox, MacIntyre dropped a shot at the par-4 third before getting that shot back following a 90-minute weather delay at the long fourth.

He then sandwiched a birdie at the eight with two dropped shots before getting into red figures with a birdie at the par-5 12th then adding another gain three holes later.

MacIntyre had a 4-4 finish in his sights but, instead, it was 5-5 that went down on his card. Hitting a driver off the fairway, his second shot at the 17th bounded down a path and left him behind a clump of trees past the green.

A pushed tee shot at the 18th then led to him having to lay up with his second then again with his third shot, but, on both occasions, he holed testing par putts to limit the damage.

“I’m thinking I’m dead,” he said of his third shot at the penultimate hole hitting one of those trees. “But I managed to have a gap for the next one and hit a nice shot. “I was more disappointed on 18, where I've tried to lay up. I've hit a decent shot and it's still absolutely dead and I've had to lay up again.”

In the circumstances, the 29-year-old did well to stay “nice and calm”, though he did admit that he still felt a “bit of anger obviously”. He’d have been fuming if any of those holes had led to a 6 or worse going down on his card.

“They're really good saves,” he admitted. “Tomorow it's just about trying to pick up where I can and don't let stupid ones slip like I feel I have.”

‘Hopefully tomorrow we don’t have to wait every shot’

MacIntyre managed to get finished just before play was suspended for the day at 7.30pm due to darkness, leaving a number of players having to complete their round on Friday morning.

“I left the hotel at nine o'clock this morning and I said that to Mike [Burrow, his caddie] on 17. I'm like, ‘this has been a long day’,” he said.

“But it's part of the job we just try and get on with it and hopefully tomorrow we're playing under five and a half, six hours and hopefully not wait every shot and then go and put my feet up.”