When it comes to names alone, the USA team for next weekend’s Walker Cup tussle with GB&I is probably two-up before a ball has even been battered in anger.
Maverick McNealy, Cameron Champ? They sound like they could have been old carousing cohorts of Robert Redford and Paul Newman after a rigorous day filming Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
For Glencruitten left-hander Robert MacIntyre, the amateur showpiece in Los Angeles is another chance for him to make a name for himself.
He’s been doing a pretty good job of that over the last few years, of course. Scottish boys’ and youths’ strokeplay champion in 2013, Scottish Men’s Amateur champion in 2015, Amateur Championship runner-up in 2016 and now a Walker Cupper here in 2017? “It’s been a nice progression,” said the canny 21-year-old. “Being known as a Walker Cup player is as good an accolade as you can get in the amateur game.”
Along with his countryman, Connor Syme, MacIntyre is one of two Scots in the GB&I team skippered by the East Renfrewshire stalwart, Craig Watson. His 10-man side face a tough old task. GB&I may be the current holders of the trophy, having produced a commanding win at Royal Lytham in 2015, but they have only ever won twice on US soil and the last of those successes came 16 years ago. “We are the underdogs but there is everything to gain,” added MacIntyre, who is currently the third highest ranked player in the GB&I side at No 14 on the global pecking order.
As a native of that shinty hotbed of Oban, this other stick and ba’ game was MacIntyre’s No 1 sporting priority until he reached the age of 16. “I was always a golfer too but it was secondary and then I broke my elbow playing football,” he said.
The fact he didn’t do himself any grievous bodily harm in the shinty arena remains something of a miracle given the eye-watering camen clatters that can get doled out but his sore one when having a kick-about at least had a spin off. “It was something of a realisation for me,” he reflected. “I wasn’t going to be a footballer and I wasn’t going to make much money playing shinty so golf become my priority. It’s worked out well.”
Golf has taken MacIntyre far and wide although an 18 month stint on a golf scholarship at McNeese State University in Louisiana just wasn’t for him. “I’d never really pondered going to the US before,” he said. “But I found myself getting an offer and thought I’d regret it if I didn’t go. Coming from a small town here, I surprised myself that I managed 18 months to be honest. I felt I wasn’t improving out there and just decided to come home.”
MacIntrye’s last outing for GB&I was in the 2016 St Andrews Trophy at Prince’s where the hosts retained the prize with a comeback draw against Europe. It was something of a bittersweet few days for MacIntyre who managed just a ½ point from his three matches.
“My game fell apart that week, it was horrendous,” he said. “In one match, I was four-up after 10 holes and still lost. It was torture. I’m determined to make amends in the Walker Cup.”
The Walker Cup tends to be the last staging post before players ride off into the professional ranks. MacIntyre will give the European Tour’s qualifying school a crack later this season but he is no rush to take the plunge into the pro ranks.
For the time being, MacIntyre is eager to savour the Walker Cup experience. “I’ve been told the team gets business class flights,” he said of the impending journey to the west coast of the US. “I’ve never flown anything other than economy. Maybe there’s a surprise in store?”
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