Bob MacIntyre uses Dunhill defence to inspire next generation of juniors

On Tuesday evening, Bob MacIntyre visited the St Andrews Links Golf Academy to offer tips to a group of kids involved in the St Andrews Junior Golf Association, delivering the sort of thing in sport that is worth its weight in gold. “Bob gave them tips and answered some tough questions,” reported McStravick in his post.

During a press conference on Wednesday ahead of his title defence in the 25th edition of the 25th Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, MacIntyre fielded questions about lots of topics, including what lies ahead for the remainder of this season, a return to St Andrews next summer for The 155th Open and being part of ‘Band of Fathers’ on the DP World Tour at the moment.

It was fascinating, though, to hear what it meant to him to attend that get-together the previous night given that, on the back of becoming a winner on both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour and also playing in the last two Ryder Cups on winning European teams, the Oban man is the person inspiring a new generation of golfers in Scotland.

“Yeah, for me, junior golf is the most important thing,” declared the 30-year-old. “I was once a junior going through the ranks, playing club stuff, county stuff, national stuff, and it was great to see so many youngsters there. It wasn't the best weather. It was cold. It was a wee bit of rain. But it was good to see so many of them out there, and, to be honest, good to see so many parents there as well. But the biggest part was just letting the kids have fun.”

As has been the case over the last couple of days close to the Old Course, where 1,000 schoolchildren from Dundee and Fife have taken part in golf-related activities through The Daily Mile, an initiative aimed at getting youngsters out of classrooms for a short time to either run, wheel or walk in a bid to help with health and mental well being.

MacIntyre joked that “being that far on the west coast of Scotland (ie Oban) and not seeing that many people” precluded him from being part of the sort of events being held around this week’s milestone DP World Tour event, but, having been inspired himself as a youngster, he knows the importance of kids having people to look up to and having opportunities provided by, for example, the Stephen Gallacher Foundation in the Central Belt.

“I was inspired by going to the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and stuff like that,” he added. “For me, the biggest thing is getting juniors into golf. I'm not worried about people like myself or any other pro going to see them. As long as these kids are out there playing golf and enjoying it, that's all you can ask for. Yeah, I think there's a lot of good stuff that Stevie does on this side of the country, and if we could just try and move that around, hopefully we can start producing more golfers.”

MacIntyre, who became the first Scot in 20 years to be crowned as the Dunhill Links champion 12 months ago in an event cut to 54 holes due to the weather, is a man on a mission this week at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews. After playing most of his golf so far this year on the PGA Tour, he sits 70th in the Race to Dubai and has work to do in terms of the DP World Tour’s season-ending Play-Offs.

In a strong signal that they will be going ahead as planned in the Middle East, Aldar has been announced as a new title sponsor for the Abu Dhabi Championship, which will involve the top 70 players at Yas Links on 5-8 November, with the top 50 then progressing to the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai the following week.

“Yeah, I'm still not in them,” observed MacIntyre, who, along with Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Fitzpatrick, had recently expressed concern about heading to the Middle East due to the ongoing conflict in the region, though, in an update on that position, Fitzpatrick said he’d been “very, very assured” about the situation by DP World Tour chiefs.

“If I play well this week, I may have a decision to make,” added MacIntyre, who has played in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship every year since being crowned as the Rookie of the Year on his debut in 2019. “But, as I sit here now, I'm not even in the golf tournaments. I've not got enough points to be in them, I don't think. If I've got to make a decision, then I'll make a decision. But, right now, I'm behind, so I need to catch up.”

By his own admission, MacIntyre “didn’t have the best relationship with the Old Course” before signing off with a six-under-par 66 in the third and final round last year to join Paul Lawrie (2001), Stephen Gallacher (2004) and Colin Montgomerie (2005) on the Dunhill Links roll of honour. A throwaway remark about his game didn’t augur too well for MacIntyre emulating Tyrrell Hatton’s feat as the only player to land the title back-to-back, but, then again, he came in here 12 months ago with low expectations after coming straight from a Ryder Cup in New York.

Asked about his schedule beyond this week, MacIntyre joked that getting the “wee man (son Findlay) to sleep during the night” was a priority at the moment before adding that he would "probably play in Tiger’s event” - the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas = before the turn of the year “just because it's quite a nice place to go and play golf and relax”.