Bob MacIntyre on counting his clubs on first tee in Dubai - and forgetting the one in his hand!

As the Oban man waited to get his day underway in the $10m season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates, he counted the clubs in his bag on a couple of occasions with caddie Mike Burrow at his side before a wry smile appeared on his face.

“Aye, it shows you I can’t count,” he told The Scotsman at the end of his round. “I kept counting it and we saw 13 clubs each time and I had one in my hand (laughing).”

Playing in the third final group after heading into the week sitting fifth in the Race to Dubai, MacIntyre was three under after seven before dropping a shot at the par-4 eighth after finding himself “dead” on the downslope in a fairway bunker then taking a 6 at the 14th.

Digging in, though, the world No 7 rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt at the 15th, made a good par save at the next before signing off with a birdie at a hole he’s struggled with in the past.

“Yeah, I thought I played beautifully,” he said. “I think that was 16 greens in regulation. I thought I drove it really well on holes where it’s a matter of staying out of one bit of trouble by just getting it down one side and I thought I did that well.”

‘We saw the same putt each time’

With each of the putts he holed late on, the Dunhill Links champion called in Burrow, a good player himself, to check the line. “The greens out here get that footprint way late in the day,” said MacIntyre of the duo’s teamwork.

“They are so fast and you start to see them when the sun starts to drop. I start doubting myself, but Mike comes in and reaffirms what I am seeing. It’s not nice when he sees completely the opposite, but today we saw the same putt each time.”