Why under-fire Bob MacIntyre needs to keep being himself
Bob MacIntyre probably won’t read this because, both from a visual perspective and what he had to say at the end of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he seemed ready to lock himself inside a dark room for a few days back in his beloved Oban.
“Can’t wait to get a break and shut off from absolutely everyone and everything,” he declared, both looking and sounding exasperated after a disappointing finish on the last day in the DP World Tour event alongside his dad Dougie but having already talked a couple of weeks earlier about how he was badly needing time to switch off.
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Hide Ad“After that finish, it’s needed majorly,” he added on Sunday. “My head’s gone completely now. Not planning to do anything. For the first two weeks, maybe even three weeks, I am not touching the clubs. I wanted to break them at the end. Literally just shut off from everyone apart from my family.
“I’m going to shut the phone off, switch social media off, the lot, and come off of everything and shut myself away because the last wee while has been a bit carnage. I need a reset. Some days I have been getting up feeling like I have slept great and still felt tired.”
As ever, MacIntyre was being open and honest as he spoke to reporters and, during his chat, he also talked about how he wasn’t a fan of the 17th hole on the Old Course, which led to him receiving a bit of a kicking on social media on Sunday night and, in turn, MacIntyre saying “sorry” for his spur-of-the-moment tirade.
Some people clearly didn’t like that he’d spoken out about one of the game’s iconic holes and there can be no denying that MacIntyre is in the minority when it comes to expressing such a view. Like everyone else, though, he is entitled to his opinion and, in his defence, it’s not necessarily because he found himself hitting a 4-iron for his second shot on Sunday.
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Hide AdThe Scot talked recently about how he feels he is a better long iron player than with a wedge in his hand while he normally has a great short game, so getting up and down around that green shouldn’t be too much of a concern to him.
It’s just the simple fact, and perhaps it’s because he’s a left-hander, that he stands up on the tee and instantly feels a dislike about the challenge it poses and that’s not a crime. Every single player has a certain hole that makes them think exactly the same way.
MacIntyre, of course, had also come under a bit of fire on social media during the 24th edition of the Dunhill Links after being heard using the F-word a few times in his second round at Kingsbarns on Friday in the company of his Ryder Cup team-mate, Tyrrell Hatton.
As he admitted himself the following day, it’s something he needs to try and curtail a bit, but, if anyone thinks a professional golfer or any other sportsperson for that matter can just flick a switch and stop themselves from swearing in what MacIntyre described as “the heat of battle”, then they are clearly deluded.
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Hide Ad“I’m not going to change at 32,” Hatton, who landed a record-breaking third Dunhill Links title triumph on Sunday, told this correspondent at the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry earlier in the year, in reply to being asked about how he behaves erratically at times on a golf course and, in doing so, has turned some people against him.
“I was 22 when I started out on the DP World Tour so, if I’ve not changed in ten years, then I don’t think I can change. I’m just reacting to things in the moment. Sure, there are times when I wish I didn’t say certain words and some things come out that you wish you could take back. But, at the end of the day, it’s just a reaction. I guess I can’t apologise for being myself.”
That is exactly who MacIntyre is every time he steps on to a golf course and we should hope that never changes because, let’s face it, it’s brought him success so far in his quest to be one of the best players in the world.
It’s exactly the same when it comes to dealing with the media. Never once has he turned down an interview request at any event I’ve been at and, a bit like Colin Montgomerie, MacIntyre has a knack of saying something that people are either interested in reading about or hearing.
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Hide AdHas he changed since first stepping onto the DP World Tour in 2019 as a Challenge Tour graduate? A bit perhaps, but, in fairness, that is only to be expected when demands on your time at every single event become greater while, at the same time, your own expectations rise in terms of performances.
Yes, it may have seemed that he’s been moaning about things a bit more lately, but give him a break for goodness sake because, when you’ve won events like the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open, broken into the top 20 in the world and played in the Ryder Cup, you are just not going to be happy about finishing down the field in any event.
Here’s one for those who apparently seem keen to have a dig at MacIntyre at every opportunity. He may have been thrilled to be out playing at Carnoustie with his dad in front of family and friends on Thursday, but, looking at a giant scoreboard as he stood behind the ninth green, his eye was caught by David Law’s name on it as the Aberdonian fights to try and keep his DP World Tour card. “Davie is such a nice guy and I really hope he hangs on to his card as you want all the Scottish guys to do well,” he said afterwards and you could tell he meant it.
Once he’s cleared his head and recharged the batteries, here’s hoping the smile will be back but with that same heart and fire in his belly.
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