Bob MacIntyre pulling on his 'big boy pants' to meet Tiger Woods after 'uncomfortable' first encounter

For obvious reasons as a left-hander, the Oban man has never hidden the fact that Phil Mickelson was his golfing idol as a kid, meaning it was a dream come true when he was paired with the six-time major winner in the final round of this year’s 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

Like most players from his generation, though, MacIntyre was also a huge Woods fan as he came through the ranks in the game and, therefore, he is pinching himself again this week to be among eight newcomers in the 20-man field for the Tiger-hosted Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

“You watch these events and not even just as a kid but a couple of years ago and go ‘how cool is that, the top whatever, 20 or 30 guys on the planet, playing in one event in a beautiful place’,” said MacIntyre, speaking to The Scotsman under a red-hot sun on the clubhouse terrace at Albany Golf Course on the island of New Providence.

“And I have managed to get here this week, having done so through a lot of hard work, sacrifice and dedication not just from me but everyone else. Aye, it doesn’t feel real, to be honest with you.”

MacIntyre, who sits 15th in the world rankings after winning both the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open this year, was speaking before he joined Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Akshay Bhatia, Nick Dunlap and Aaron Rai in taking part in a fun Hero Shot event at this week’s venue.

Woods, who isn’t playing in what is the event’s 25th edition as he continues his recovery from a sixth career back surgery in September, was sitting a few feet away as the players hit shots to a floating green in a strip of water that runs between the ninth and 18th holes. Both Bhatia and Rai admitted that having Woods watching them had been something they’d only ever envisaged in their "dreams", with MacIntyre feeling likewise.

“I mean, Tiger changed the game,” he said of the long-time world No 1 and joint-record event winner on the PGA Tour. “For me, he is the best I have seen and he was freakishly good at the game. It is unbelievable to be here and it is unbelievable to have a guy like that hosting this event. I am obviously going to meet him at some stage this week and I’m just going to have to put on my big boy pants (laughing).”

The Scot, who is staying in one of the plush apartments in Albany Marina with his girlfriend Shannon Hartley and even admits he has been stunned by the size of some of the luxurious yachts moored there, chuckled when he was reminded about the first time he’d been so close to Woods, having found him standing on the 11th tee at Augusta National when he had to return there to reload during one of his rounds in The Masters in 2022.

“I am a wee bit panicked doing this Hero Shot as he’s going to be sitting there beside you and I would rather hit a driver than a wedge, to be honest with you,” admitted MacIntyre, who is only the fourth Scot after Colin Montgomerie, Martin Laird and Russell Knox to tee up in the Hero World Challenge and first to do since 2016.

“That day at Augusta, I hit it in the trees at the 11th and said to Mike [Thomson], who was my caddie at the time, ‘I am going to take a couple of swipes at this’ and he said ‘you can’t as you can’t move that ball’. I said to him ‘Tiger is on the tee behind me, I can’t go back to it (laughing)’. But I went back and, yes, it was uncomfortable!”

World No 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler heads this week’s field, which includes five fellow major winners in Thomas, Day, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley. The line up also includes world No 5 Ludvig Aberg.

For MacIntyre, who has been paired with fellow left-hander Bhatia in Thursday’s opening round, it’s already been a week that has illustrated how his profile has gone through the roof this year in the US. On Tuesday, for example, he’d done a TV interview for the Golf Channel, also spoken to PGA Tour radio and been grilled in a quick-fire Q&A by well-known US golf journalist Dan Rapaport before taking part in the Hero Shot event.

As you might expect after what he achieved this year, he had lots to say in what was a lengthy chat with this correspondent as well and I can guarantee plenty of people will be interested to hear his thoughts in due course. Right now, though, his focus is on trying to sign his calendar campaign off on a high.

“Yip, exactly,” he said in reply to being asked if he was here to try and win.” Referring to caddie Mike Burrow, he added: “We’ve done some good work already. I played 18 holes yesterday and was out early this morning for nine holes. Yeah, just trying to fine tune everything.

“It’s not the easiest golf course as it’s been blowing an absolute gale. There are some funky run offs around the greens, slopey-ish greens that are quick and it is very grainy around the greens. It is not easy.”

What an end to an incredible year it would be if MacIntyre was being presented with the iconic Tiger trophy by the tournament host on Sunday afternoon.