Bob MacIntyre prefers Carnoustie gunfire to Bethpage Black verbal bullets

The Scottish duo helped attract the biggest-ever crowd at Carnoustie for a round in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and, despite a couple of heavy showers, there was no chance of a sense of excitement among the home fans being dampened.

MacIntyre, after all, was making his first appearance since becoming a two-time Ryder Cup winner after helping Europe land a first victory on US soil in New York on Sunday while Murray was teeing up in his first event in Scotland after starting to play golf on a regular basis after retiring from tennis.

On a day when former world No 1 Dustin Johnson carded a joint best-of-the-day 64 at the Angus venue, MacIntyre was pleased with his 66, especially as his tank is low after last week and being back in Oban for less than 24 hours before jumping in the car to head over to the east coast.

“Aye, I played lovely,” said the world No 9, who opened with a “stupid” bogey after finding his only fairway bunker of the day but then making birdies at the third, fourth, fifth, seventh, tenth, 12th and 14th as he found his stride. “I didn’t play great, but I played smart by missing in the right spots and taking advantage of the par 5s when I could. Just a solid day’s round.”

Along with his European team-mates, MacIntyre was subjected to shocking insults from US fans throughout the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black and, in truth, you couldn’t have imagined a bigger contrast this week in terms of shouts from outside the ropes. That said, the sound of those bullets being fired on the Barry Buddon range close to Hogan’s Alley can be a bit disconcerting.

“One of the best bits was there were no shouts of abuse today - just gunfire,” said MacIntyre, laughing. “It’s not easy,” he added of that. “The hardest one is when you are trying to hit a delicate chip or a putt and, just as you are about to make the strike, you hear the ‘pow, pow’. It’s difficult but we are used to it now coming here. It’s better that than someone shouting at the top of your backswing when you’ve got a match on the line in the Ryder Cup on 18 (laughing).”

On the back of some of the stick he received on Long Island, the 29-year-old decided to have a bit of fun by sending out a social media post that highlighted some of the things that had been said to him but with clips of some of the crucial putts he holed in helping Luke Donald’s side hang on to the coveted trophy with a 15-13 win.

“That’s what I do,” he said, smiling. “I know when I go back over there that I am going to get the same shouts. It doesn’t change. It’s the same stuff. I’m used to it. I’m thick-skinned. I felt like I played reasonably well in the Ryder Cup. Some people liked it; some people didn’t like it. I gave as good as I got at times. I try to have a bit of fun and I think that’s what we do as a team well. We just have a laugh.”

Helped by his amateur partner holing out for an eagle at the par-4 seventh, MacIntyre and US businessman Brett Overman opened with an eight-under 64 in team event, sitting one ahead of Murray and his professional partner, Eddie Pepperell as a hot pace was set by Jack Senior and Dery Desmond with a 17-under-par 55 at St Andrews.

“I was nervous,” admitted Murray, who played with MacIntyre in last year’s BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth but is making his debut in this event, of the warm reception he received from a huge crowd on the first tee.

“It’s totally different to what we experience as tennis players. You get nervous playing tennis, but you’re confident in your ability. You come out here and you have Tyrrell Hatton (this week’s defending champion and a three-time winner of the DP World Tour event) standing behind you and you do feel uncomfortable. But, as a professional sportsperson, I have these coping mechanisms to deal with that. I got it away ok.”

There’s no denying that the two-time Wimbledon winner has a strong golf game - he shot a two-under 70 in a practice round at Kingsbarns and had a chance of it being a 68 - and he can certainly be in a position one day to try and qualify for The Open, though actually teeing up in the Claret Jug event is a longshot.

“I think it went pretty well,” he said of his day’s work. “It’s different to playing weekend golf with your friends. Lots going on. You want to do the right thing, you don’t want to stand in the wrong place and interrupt the pros. Eddie and Tyrrell were great.”

He didn’t need to think twice when asked to pick out his best shot of the day. “I hit one of the best shots I’ve ever hit between two trees,” he declared. “I was in the rough and I had to slice it through the trees. For someone at my level, that could’ve been a disaster.

“But it went through the trees and it was going towards the green. We heard nothing from the crowd, so we assumed it was in the bunker. We go there and it was ten-feet from the hole. I thought, ‘some sort of applause would’ve been nice.’”

Grant Forrest, winner of the Nexo Championship in Aberdeen earlier in the year, beat MacIntyre’s effort at Carnoustie by a shot while, elsewhere, Daniel Young and Scott Jamieson opened with bogey-free rounds of 65 and 66 at St Andrews respectively.