Robert MacIntyre is having so many close shaves on the European Tour this season he’s probably got a rash on his neck but the Scot’s resolute and uplifting pursuit of a maiden victory on the main circuit goes on.
Runner-up in the British Masters and the Made in Denmark event during a fine rookie campaign, the Oban left-hander flirted with victory again in the Porsche European Open in Germany yesterday but had to settle for a share of second.
Four shots clear of the field at halfway and sharing the lead after 54-holes, MacIntyre revelled in the final day cut-and-thrust but his four-under 68 for a 13-under tally left him just one shot behind the eventual winner, Paul Casey.
As Casey made a telling thrust with birdies on the 16th and 17th, MacIntyre, playing in the final group behind the Englishman, couldn’t take advantage of the par-5s at 15 and 16 and was then left with the daunting task of making an eagle on the last to force a play-off.
The 23-year-old gave it good go and launched his approach over the water to about 25-feet but his putt for a three reared up short and his chance was gone.
“Obviously I’m disappointed in the end but, if someone had given me that score in the last round, I thought it would probably have been enough to win, but it just wasn’t to be,” said a philosophical MacIntyre, who has now broken into the world’s top-100 for the first time and added another £135,153 to his sizeable haul of earnings in 2019.
“It’s been brilliant. I didn’t really know where I stood walking up the 15th and, as I had seen Paul holing putts up ahead, I had to ask one of the camera crew where we stood.”
"I'm over the moon" @Paul_Casey completes the journey from 14-year-old volunteer to winner of the European Open 🏆 pic.twitter.com/teoBGHmFys
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 8, 2019
MacIntyre, who has moved up to 13th on the Race to Dubai rankings, added: “It is a learning experience again. That is the third second place this year. We are getting closer and closer, but we just can’t seem to get over that line yet.
“I wouldn’t say playing in front of big crowds on the last day is normal for me, but you learn from every experience. It’s just disappointing not to win today.”
Casey claimed his first European Tour title in five years after coming out on top of a congested leaderboard in Hamburg
The 42-year-old had MacIntyre, Bernd Wiesberger and Bernd Ritthammer for company at the top with three holes remaining but the Ryder Cup player’s experience came to the fore after a fine birdie putt from 35 feet at the 16th proved to be the turning point.
“This is an incredibly prestigious trophy that has a lot of history to it on the European Tour so I’m over the moon,” he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here