ROBERT MacIntyre enjoys his home comforts. So, it seems, does his mother. “Her kitchen is falling to pieces so she says … but it looks alright to me,” said MacIntyre with a wry chuckle. Having racked up around £100,000 from his first 11 events as a rookie on the European Tour this season, the Oban left-hander can probably afford to make some titivations to the fixtures and fittings of the family pile.
As for MacIntyre and the European circuit? Well, he’s becoming a firm fixture on weekend leaderboards and he seems to be fitting in to life on the circuit quite the thing. He’s missed just one cut all season, he has posted a couple of top-15 finishes and he is bringing in the kind of steady income that doesn’t just keep the wolf from the door, it chases it back into the forest.
MacIntyre has been on the road for the past nine weeks and his golfing globetrotting would get him a regular column in the Conde Naste Traveller. The 2019 campaign has already had him in Hong Kong, South Africa, Australian, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kenya. It’s time for a well-deserved rest.
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“I need to chill out,” he gasped. “I done 12 or 13 weeks on the trot on the Challenge Tour last year. You just keep the head and keep going but there comes a time when you have to stop. It’s a marathon not a sprint. I went for it at the start to try and get as many rankings points as possible on the board and I’ve managed that. I’ve got a bit of freedom now to pick and choose my schedule.”
The touring life is all consuming. The normality of domestic life, meanwhile, provides a much-needed escape from the routine of airport, hotel, golf course and airport again while the presence of two young foster children in the family home adds fresh perspective and a sense of calm to his down time.
“I don’t think about golf when I’m back home,” said the 22-year-old who is the pride and joy of his local club Glencruitten. “I’m looking out on the course as we speak and there’s no temptation to go out and play at all. The foster kids are five and 12 and when I’m back I’ll take them out and have a game of football or shinty. It keeps your mind away from golf. When I’m away it’s golf, golf, golf. It’s my job. I’m there for golf. I don’t waste time I could be using to improve and I give myself every chance. You don’t want to let this opportunity pass you by. You are travelling the world but it’s basically airport, hotel and golf.
"I was in Nairobi last week. It’s not the safest place so I was in the hotel all the time. You’re not seeing much. I was getting fed up late on after such a long run. But on the last day in Kenya my caddie said ‘we are going home now so go for it’. I shot a 63.”
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That surging closing round was such a rousing charge it should have been performed on horseback and it propelled MacIntyre from the rank-and-file on the leaderboard into a share of 17th. When you’re a new recruit trying to gain a foothold, making the most of every weekend can be crucial in the final analysis. Making the ultimate stride and winning, like his fellow Scottish rookie David Law did in Australia last month, is the next step for MacIntyre. And he’s quietly confident he can do it.
“I feel that big result is round the corner,” added the former Scottish Amateur champion. “I don’t doubt my ability one bit. I’ve made 10 of 11 cuts on the tour. I just have to break the door down. If you play good golf is doesn’t matter where you’re doing it, whether it’s on the tour or at Glencruitten. If you play well, you’ll shoot a good number. It’s about playing the golf and forgetting about the occasion.”
Having enjoyed high profile pairings with the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Ernie Els at events this year – “I was crapping myself on the first tee with those guys” – MacIntyre continues to thrive in the exalted European Tour company.
The company of those he knows best, meanwhile, keeps this rising star on an even keel. “The folk at the golf club will bring me back to earth with a bang,” he said. “That’s the thing about life up here in Oban. It keeps you grounded. You can’t get too big for your boots here as people will start calling you out. That’s the way life has been and always will be.”
What did we say about those home comforts again?
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