How Bob MacIntyre has broken into US market with new brand partners
Scot retains roots with new tartan bag but his appeal has now spread across Atlantic
His stunning new Hunting MacIntyre tartan bag has set tongues wagging and understandably so because it’s both eye-catching and, of course, also a nod to his roots as a very proud Scot.
It’s the names of two new brand partners - sponsors if that’s what you prefer to call them - on that Vessel bag, though, that give you an indication of the impact Bob MacIntyre has made in the golf world in a relatively short period of time.
Just over six years ago, when he was starting out on the DP World Tour, the left-hander secured a partnership with Orion Group, which, at that particular time, was the perfect link up due to the fact it brought together two success stories in the Highlands. MacIntyre, after all, hails from Oban and Orion Group, an international recruit business, is based in Inverness.
MacIntyre proudly wore the Orion Group logo - Aberdeen Standard Investments were on his shirt, too, at that time - when he landed his breakthrough win on the DP World Tour in the 2020 Cyprus Showdown at Aphrodite Hills.
Fast forward two years and, with the full support of Orion Group to go and progress his career, the Scot, having been signed up to wear Nike apparel by then, had a different name - Arnold Clark - on his sleeve when lifting aloft the DS Automobiles Italian Open trophy after holding off both Rory McIlroy and Matthew Fitzpatrick at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome.
The Glasgow-based car retail company was also on MacIntyre’s bag at that time and remains on the front panel of the new one, where the golf ball pocket adorns the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation logo as he continues to support a charity that is close to his heart.
What’s really interesting, though, is that MacIntyre, having broken into the world’s top 20 on the back of his brilliant wins in the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open last year, has now attracted American investment in him for the first time.
Discovery Land Company, one of those new brand partners, is a US-based retail estate developer and operator of private residential communities with, according to a press release issued by MacIntyre’s management company Bounce Sport, a “world-renowned portfolio of domestic and international properties”.
That portfolio includes Taymouth Castle Estate in Perthshire and MacIntyre’s bag is emblazoned on one side with ‘Taymouth Castle Golf and Sport Club’ as the company bid to spread the message about that exciting project on the banks of the River Tay, just 70 miles from MacIntyre’s beloved home town and almost a straight line on the map.
It seems a touch ironic, of course, for a Scot to have an American bourbon whiskey company as a sponsor, but, when you consider that Elijah Craig is known as the ‘father of bourbon’ and it is the official bourbon and whiskey supplier of the PGA of America, then it is another significant partnership to have been secured for MacIntyre by his manager, Iain Stoddart.
One thing for sure is that MacIntyre will never forget his roots and, therefore, will forever be grateful to the likes of Orion Group and Aberdeen Standard Investments for showing faith in him at that most crucial stage in any up-and-coming player’s career.
However, he should feel very proud indeed of himself that he used that support as a springboard to make himself marketable in the eyes of big companies in the US because, let’s face it, Americans can be quite insular at times.
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