Bob MacIntyre uses fitness coach to work out 50-yard run-outs at baked Birkdale

MacIntyre and Jack McDonald are the only two Scots teeing up at the Southport venue, which is definitely something that merits delving into at some point soon, especially after MacIntyre had flown the Saltire on his own this year in The Masters, PGA Championship and the US Open.

This is MacIntyre’s seventh successive appearance in the Claret Jug event, having amassed an impressive three top-ten finishes, two of which came at Royal Portrush in 2019 and 2025 and the other at Royal St George’s in 2021.

The 29-year-old is now facing a new challenge as he tackles Royal Birkdale, where one of the best courses on The R&A rota is set to prove even more difficult due to brick-hard fairways that have been baked under a blazing sunshine for a prolonged period.

"On Monday, we sent Kenny [McKenzie, his fitness coach, who goes out in most practice rounds with him at big events along with swing coach Simon Shanks] down the fairways just to see the run outs when it was downwind,” revealed MacIntyre as he illustrated the difficulty being caused by such conditions. “I was hitting 6 and 7-iron off the tees and it's running out 50 yards on the fairway.”

After playing the back nine on Monday in a strong wind and describing it as “brutal”, the world No 15 admitted to reporters he was still trying to come up with a “gameplan” before heading out on the front nine on Tuesday afternoon then finalising his preparations on Wednesday in preparation for an early first-round start in the company of Rickie Fowler and Alex Fitzpatrick.

"When it's downwind, it's just get it on the fairway, get it in the short stuff,” he said. It's almost like you have to do the opposite. Normally you're taking spin off it, but you're having to hit something hard to get the spin on it. Everyone's probably going to play it differently.

“Some guys are going to flip the coin and go with driver and run the risk of the bunkers, whereas, for me, it's just managing the fairway/green. It's a big high green in regulation week, so the priority from there to then is hitting the fairway."

Though he was disappointed to have to settle for third place in the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club on Sunday after holding the outright lead after the opening hole in the final round, one of MacIntyre’s stats from the closing circuit was mind-boggling. He was +9.69 for strokes gained with approaches, which, unsurprisingly, was the best in the field.

"Yeah, the figures were great all week,” he said, smiling, “I think the last three out of the last four rounds have been really good since I've started to tweak the irons back to what I had before. So, yeah, it's just reconfirms it - stop searching! Well, you can still always test, but stop making big rash decisions so quickly and then it backfires, so it's a learning curve."

Even though he gave a great account of himself by finishing joint-sitxh behind Shane Lowry, MacIntyre reckons he was “making up the numbers” when he made his debut in this event seven years ago. Not now, though. He’s here to try and win and become the first Scot since Paul Lawrie in 1999 to get their hands on the greatest trophy in golf. "Now there's more expectation for myself, but it's not pressure,” he insisted. “It's just I know that, do you know what, if I play well this week, I'm going to have a chance.”

As is often the case when he chats with people, MacIntyre was very enlightening indeed when he was asked about the fine line when it comes to having big expectations but, at the same time, not allowing that to turn into unnecessary pressure. "I'm pretty good at it,” he declared. “I think now I've got a slightly different perspective on it. I come here, do my job. I've got things that I have to do, there's certain things that probably the last couple of weeks I've let slip with my putting.

"I've probably not done as much performance stuff on the putting and last week, if I'd putted the way I know I can putt, it was going to be a different story, but it wasn't and yeah just going to put a little bit more focus in on that. Getting back to doing what I've done, maybe spend a little bit, half an hour more because I've been putting so much work into the long game because it was a weakness for a while."

Is there a tick list he has to go through? "There is and it's the same every week, same with technical stuff,” added the world No 15, who knows McDonald well from their spell playing together on the HotelPlanner Tour. "It's the same, it doesn't change, it's just rinse and repeat the whole thing.

“But then you do more work on one area and then you neglect another area and then it just flips from a strength to a weakness and it's about trying to just manage it and, once you get it in a good spot, just keep it going."

As MacIntyre signed autographs at the end of one of his practice rounds, caddie Mike Burrow was deep in conversation on the putting green with Ronan Flood, who, of course, was on Padraig Harrington’s bag when he won here in 2008. Scribbles in yardage books were clearly being mulled over and, like his boss, Burrow is doing everything he can to try and make this another great week for MacIntyre and maybe even the greatest.