'Fighter' Bob MacIntyre pushed on by fans to make Genesis Scottish Open cut

The Oban man was staring an early exit in the face on a day when he played “absolutely terribly” after losing a ball off his drive at the 13th and running up a double-bogey 6 in the second round of the $9 million Rolex Series event.

That left him sitting two shots outside the projected cut and thinking he’d be spending the weekend at home in Oban instead of playing in front of a sellout crowd for Saturday’s third round.

Showing the fighting qualities that Rory McIlroy had talked about earlier in the day, though, the 28-year-old birdied the par-3 14th then almost made a hole in one at the 17th, where he made another 2, before holing a testing four-foot par putt at the last to make it on the button as the cut fell at one under.

“A disappointing performance,” said MacIntyre of signing for a one-over 71 to sit ten shots off the lead, held by Chris Gotterup after the little-known American had equalled the course record with a 61.

“But in for the weekend, which was almost unthinkable from where I was and the way I was playing, and I guess growing up at Glencruitten on a short golf course with loads of par-3s helped me in the end.”

He’d raised one of the biggest roars of the day earlier in the round when putting in from off the green for another 2 at the sixth - the ‘Stadium Hole’ - and the home fans were cheering loudly again later on, particularly at the 17th.

“Do you know, it’s when you see so many people out there supporting me, pushing me on,” he said of how he’d been determined to avoid an early exit.

He described his drive at the 13th as “one of the worst shots I’ve hit all year”, but it was more like it from the world No 14 when he made amends with his timely tee shot at the penultimate hole.

“There were so many different shots, but me and Mike [Burrow, his caddie] decided: Let’s hit the shot that this demands to get it close. It was just as high a 6-iron as I can. I mean, I can’t hit a 6-iron any higher.

“You can’t see it land, so I’m just looking at the reaction of the crowd behind. I’m just looking at a group of guys in the white shirts and one of them put his hands on his head, so I thought, well, it’s going to be there or thereabouts. I didn’t know it was that close, but it’s going to be a good one to see back.”

The cut had moved to two under at one point during the day but, after the wind swing round to come from the east, it soon went back to one under and, much to MacIntyre’s relief, stayed there.

“Aye, was like, ‘oh, well, this is curtains’,” he said of finding himself on the wrong side of the mark with just five holes to play. “But I just fought it out and ground it out and got away with it.”