'It was a goosebump moment' - Bob MacIntyre on how fans are fuelling his Scottish Open title bid

On a sun-kissed day at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian, the Oban man raised the biggest roar of the week so far as he holed a 20-foot birdie putt at the sixth hole, which has been created as ‘The Stadium’ for this week’s Rolex Series event.

Playing with 2023 winner Rory McIlroy, MacIntyre had already made two birdies before reaching that point in his round and added two more over the remainder of it to sign for a bogey-free 65.

On eight under par, the left-hander sits just outside the top ten, giving himself a good chance of going one better than 12 months ago, when he was denied by a brilliant birdie-birdie finish from McIlroy.

“It's difficult at times,” admitted MacIntyre of trying to not get carried away by the support he’s received so far in his first appearance on home soil since landing a breakthrough PGA Tour win in the RBC Canadian Open last month.

“When I was walking up the sixth hole, having hit a reasonably decent shot in there, the crowd was going wild and they were obviously chanting my name all the way up to the green.

“It was almost a relief for me, but it was also a bit of a goosebump moment when the crowd absolutely erupted. It's always good to have that support.”

The Scottish No 1 will have even more home fans willing him on when he tees up in next week’s 152nd Open at Royal Troon and that moment at the sixth was certainly a taste of what he can expect on the Ayrshire coast.

“To be honest, I just said to Mike [Burrow, his caddie] walking up the seventh, that's why I play golf,” added the 27-year-old. “That's why I put in the hard work and I try and be myself as much as I can when I'm out there.

“You almost feel like you're giving something back when you hole a nice putt and the crowd is going wild. It's almost like it's a celebration (the Stadium Hole), but it's what they're wanting and when you can do it in front of them, it's absolutely brilliant.”

After opening with back-to-back 64s, world No 4 Aberg could be hard to catch over the weekend while McIlroy is lurking ominously again on the leaderboard, but it’s so far so good for MacIntyre in the event he’d dearly love to win, especially after going so close a year ago.

“Aye, I'm pretty close to where I want to be,” he admitted. “It's not exactly where I want to be. Obviously, you want to be in the lead. I want to just have a chance coming on Sunday and, after Friday, I've got a good chance of putting myself in a position going into Sunday. Tomorrow's a new day, but we'll try our best.”

In his first outing since suffering heartbreak in the US Open at Pinehurst, McIlroy sits a shot ahead of MacIntyre. “I saw a 62 and 63 out there,” admitted the world No 2 after signing for a 66. “If we continue to get conditions like this, I think that’s what it’s going to take to be right up there around the lead going into Sunday.”