THE food maketh the Masters. But forget those Augusta National staple sandwiches of pimento cheese, egg salad or classic chicken. Robert MacIntyre has his own recipe for success in this corner of Georgia. Well, it’s his mum Carol’s recipe actually.
“It’s the cakes,” drooled the young Scot with the kind of excessive salivating that could cause flooding in Rae’s Creek. “She’s brilliant at baking. On that first morning last year, we were up at 6.30am and there were homemade cookies and blueberry friands on the table ready to go. I can’t help myself.”
There’s always food for thought at The Masters. And MacIntyre provided plenty of it last year. A thrilling debut, capped off by a brave birdie putt on the final green, gave the Oban lefty a wonderful share of 12th place and ensured a return invitation to this annual golfing rite of spring.
The wider MacIntyre clan will be on site too. With a family unit that’s as tight knit as a closely fought sewing bee, the 25-year-old has always extoled the benefits of having his nearest and dearest around him at golf’s big occasions.
“It’s daft, but if you look at all my top results you can see where my mum’s been,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about anything when she’s there. I get back and she says, ‘right, what time are you wanting dinner?’. It’s absolutely brilliant and that’s a massive help for me.”
This edition of the Masters will be MacIntyre’s eighth appearance in a major championship. He’s made the cut in every one and has two top-10 finishes at The Open. It’s an impressive body of work in a professional career that’s only four-and-a-bit years old.
“Even last year, I could have walked away from the game knowing I had played in all the biggest tournaments apart from the Ryder Cup,” reflected MacIntyre, who remains proudly tethered to his Oban roots.
“People say you can’t do things coming from where we come from. And if you’d said that by 24 or 25 I’d be doing all this, I probably would’ve said ‘no chance’.
“But if you have the drive and the backing from the people who are behind you, I think you can do anything.
“Touch wood, I’ve not missed a cut in a major yet. But I’ve not really had a chance to win one yet either.
“Hopefully, this year, we’ll have a couple of opportunities. I have as much chance as anyone when I peg it up on Thursday and that’s the best thing about our sport. Even if you’re three or four back on the Sunday, you’re still in the fight. That’s all you can ask for at the top level … although I hope I’ve got a five-shot lead.”
Last year’s Masters was a step into the unknown for MacIntyre but he embraced the challenge with great gusto. Augusta National, with its elevation changes, subtle slopes and abundant nooks and crannies, just about requires the nous of a cartographer to chart a successful course.
MacIntyre can always call on a little help from a Masters-winning friend in the 2018 champion, Patrick Reed. “I get on absolutely magic with him,” said the world No 73. “I played with him during my first year on tour in Turkey along with Nacho Elvira. I shot nine under, Patrick shot eight and Nacho shot seven. It was daft.
“I think that was when they thought ‘who is that?’ They realised you are not just there to make up the numbers. I got the respect there. When I would go out to America, and I’d lost a bit of weight, Patrick would crack jokes. He still does, and he still calls me certain names. I think that’s great for making you feel comfortable.
“I got his number after a while and messaged him for some advice. If I want to ask him anything he just says ‘message me’ and he’ll give me as much advice as he can.
“For Augusta last year, he did so much. There are certain things associated with Augusta and they say the ball always runs to a certain point on that course. For example, halfway down the ninth fairway he (Reed) stopped Mike (MacIntyre’s caddie) and put a dot on every hole (in the yardage book) where the ball runs to.
“Mike turned to me and said, ‘he didn’t need to do that’. And he didn’t. He could have left us wondering where the ball was going to run but Mike handed him the book and he did it for us. It shows the guy’s got respect for you and I’ve got the utmost respect for him.”
Perhaps MacIntyre can repay Reed with one of his mother’s cakes?
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