'They're lucky I'm not going home' - Bob MacIntyre's shinty quip ahead of Ryder Cup

The world No 9 was below the projected cut mark for most of his second round in the $8 million Rolex Series event at Wentworth before picking up two birdies in the last three holes to sign for a second successive 71 to make it through to the final 36 holes on two under.

“Yeah, it was,” said the Oban man in reply to being asked if it had been another battle for him on the West Course at the Surrey venue. “Look, I am driving it absolutely beautifully, though, when I started to get annoyed late on, the driver started to go a bit awry and I had to get it back together as I knew I had chances on the last few holes.

“Yeah, I am just getting annoyed with how the golf course is playing, to be honest. I thought I had hit a beautiful 4-iron into 17. It was a low one, but it has bounced back a yard. If I land it four yards shorter, it probably runs on to the green. It is just fairly inconsistent in that respect.”

MacIntyre’s two bogeys included one at the seventh, where he was left with an almost impossible putt after missing the lower front tier on the green. “It was a good shot, but just a terrible pick of yardage,” he admitted. “On seven and eight, I felt with the tee shots I hit that I should have been walking off level par at worst and probably one under instead of one over.

“Look, wedging has been my Achilles’ heel for a wee while, I’m not the greatest wedge player, but I can drive it well and I can long iron play it and I normally putt it well. But I just can’t get the speed of these greens - they are slow as hell.”

Rasmus Hojgaard, one of the other automatic qualifiers for the European team heading to Bethpage Black, missed the cut after two tough days and MacIntyre would have been facing the same fate if he hadn’t birdied the 16th and 18th.

“I wasn’t too worried because I actually feeling I am playing well. The greens hare, if they are lucky, are probably playing at ten on the stimp. We are going to Bethpage and they are going to run at 12 or 13.

“I’m not even giving too much thought about how I am putting here, though I will probably get Mike to set up so that I am putting up the hill on the putting green tomorrow so that I can actually get the ball to the hole.

“I feel like my game is in good shape. I am driving the ball absolutely superbly. I’m in a good spot going into Bethpage, just not in a great spot for this golf tournament.”

MacIntyre was asked about his love for shinty by a first-time golf reporter and, as always, was happy to talk about it.

“I played 45 minutes a couple of weeks ago on my first week off,” he said of getting to the end of the PGA Tour season. “Yeah, it keeps me sane. When I’m out here, there’s attention on you and you almost have to be somebody.

“When I’m on the shinty pitch, I’m treated just as Bob. I don’t get treated any differently. When I go to training, it is fair game. We are all hard in tackles. Yeah, back to normal life.

“I remember getting asked the question at the Dunhill. I know who the reporter was who asked it and they were like ‘why do you play shinty?’’ And I actually turned the question back at him by asking ‘what do you do in your spare time when you are not reporting on sport or golf?’ He said he played golf and I goes ‘well, I play shinty when I’m not playing golf’. Golf is my job and shinty is my hobby - simple as that.”

MacIntyre will join his 11 Ryder Cup team-mates on a trip to Bethpage Black on Monday and Tuesday as the Europeans gear up for a trophy defence in a fortnight’s time.

But he admitted, with a hearty chuckle, referring to the door having been open for him to play for Oban Celtic this weekend: “They are lucky I made birdie on 18 and I’m not going home (laughing).”