Bob MacIntyre goes ‘bananas' at US Open and screams for Scotland penalty in World Cup

Out in one of the early groups on Saturday after just scraping through to the weekend following opening scores of 70-74 at the Long Island venue, the Oban man signed for a 73 in the third round in winds gusting up to 35mph to sit on seven-over-par at the 54-hole stage.

After dropping two shots early on, MacIntyre birdied the eighth and tenth to get back to level par only to then suffer spillage at the 11th, 12th and 18th, though, in comparison to both Peter Uihlein and Patrick Rodgers, for example, both posting 80s, it was still a decent day’s work.

“Yeah, how long has that taken me to play in a two-ball? Four hours 40 minutes.” he replied to being asked how difficult it had been. “That tells you all you need to know. Some of the pin positions are, to be honest, a bit ridiculous.

“The one on 11 is only a pin position if it is flat calm or calm enough. I mean, it is blowing 30mph across that green and the scoring average on that par 3 is going to be over 4. It’s the best golfers in the world and it is carnage.”

MacIntyre, last year’s runner-up at Oakmont, had been level par with four holes to play in the second round on Friday morning before following bogeys at the sixth and seventh with a double-bogey 6 at the eighth. Instead of heading into the weekend feeling he had a chance of going one better in the UGSA event, he only just made the cut.

“Overall, I feel the last three days I’ve played well, but, yesterday, I just went bananas for the last three or four holes,” admitted the 29-year-old. “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t be here today to play the weekend, but here we are.”

He reckoned a “wrong” club was to blame for him finding the “wrong” bunker at the par-3 seventh before blaming a “terrible” club decision between him and caddie Mike Burrow for the worst of the damage in his costly three-hole run.

“Yeah, you turn what feels like a really good week, where you think ‘you know what, if I’m level par for the tournament and go out there today and shoot a decent number, I’ve got something to play for’,” reflected MacIntyre.

“But I was still angry when I went out there today. I get you are still playing for things, but it’s just for position now. It was so tough this morning. I mean, driver was just going 250 yards off the first hole. Were you going to shoot under par? I mean, I’d be shocked if anyone shot under par before me. It’s just been carnage. Yeah, three out of the last four holes yesterday just got me a chance of a US Open again.”

In the first group out in the third round, American Dylan Wu five-putted from 34 feet. “Balls were rolling on the 1st green and I thought ‘here we go, we are going to get called off’,” said MacIntyre. “But we played on. Yeah, bogey-par-bogey start and I actually felt I didn’t do too much wrong.

“I made good birdies on eight and ten and then I was between clubs on 11 and just absolutely bailed and it was a good bogey in the end. Then I didn’t get up and down on 12 after a terrible chip. Yeah, I thought I played reasonably well, but one of these weeks again.”

He couldn’t stop thinking about the 11th hole. “It was 178 yards to the pin today on a tiny shelve on a green that is absolutely tiny at the times with the wind blowing across you at 25mph and gusting up to 35mph,” groaned the left-hander. “I will be amazed if the scoring average isn’t over 4 and that’s the sort of stuff you’ve got to deal with. At times when you hit it out of position, it is a case of just ‘how do we not make a double bogey here, make bogey and get out of here’.

“Even at the last there. I’ve probably missed it in the wrong spot and I’m hitting a chip shot out of the thick rough way of a certain miss. You just blast it on to 35 feet and take the two-putt. I find it boring when it is like that. But that’s just the way this golf course is.”

As has been the case all week, Scotland fans were out on the course cheering on the world No 17. One bloke in a big group who stood out in the crowd with their Saltire shirts and kilts was wearing a cone hat, which, of course, is a tribute to one on the Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow and the one of Donald Dewar’s sculpture at the top of Buchanan Street.

Like those fans, MacIntyre felt a bit subdued after Scotland’s 1-0 defeat by Morocco in Boston on Friday, though, on the back of a win over Haiti by the same margin in their opening Group C match, Steve Clarke’s side still have a chance of progressing as they now head into a clash with Brazil in Miami on Wednesday.

“Yeah, it was kind of how I thought we were going to play,” reflected MacIntyre, who watched the game at his rented house on Long Island. “We had our chances and I was screaming at the TV for a penalty on [John] McGinn as well. I thought his was more of a penalty than [Scott] McTominay’s.

“But we are still in there with a chance. The boys know what they are doing. It might be hotter in Miami right enough, but, yeah, happy enough with the start. Three points out of a possible six - I’m sure they’d take it.”