Bob MacIntyre 'feeling good' for Dubai date despite travelling halfway around world
Scot happy with game and relishing his marquee group for Desert Classic
He’d already flown from Hawaii to Dallas and had just woken up after a nap on his next lengthy flight, a 14-hour haul from Texas to Dubai, when Bob MacIntyre checked the clock on the screen in front of him. “I still had ten hours left to go and I was thinking ‘what am I doing?’” he admitted with a laugh.
A photograph he posted on social media confirmed that his journey halfway around the world was quite an undertaking, but, speaking on Wednesday afternoon, the Oban man delivered an upbeat assessment of how he is feeling heading into the Hero Dubai Desert Classic starting on Thursday.
“I feel good,” he declared. “I actually think it’s enough of a time difference that it almost doesn’t affect you. It was the same going to Hawaii with a ten-hour time difference from home and, honestly, I didn’t have any jetlag and slept unbelievably for the whole two weeks. Even last night here, I slept great for eight hours and woke up when my alarm went off. I love this place and it is worth coming.”
MacIntyre, who made the cut in his two events in Hawaii, finishing in the top 15 in The Sentry, is in one of the marquee groups for the first two days of the $9 million Rolex Series event at Emirates Golf Club with Jon Rahm and Adam Scott.
“It gives you a level where you are fully switched on from the get go,” he said of his new standing in the game after breaking into the world’s top 15 on the back of winning both the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open last year
“You’ve got a bit more of a buzz, you’ve got a crowd. Early last year on the PGA Tour, I was like ‘am I getting finished today?’ But now you are in the big groups, you feel from the start there is an energy and I think as a player you need to feed off that.”
The left-hander finished joint-eighth in this event on his debut in 2020 before securing third place the following year. He was an absentee last year due to starting out as a PGA Tour card holder then but is excited to be back, the aim being to pick up valuable Ryder Cup points in the battle to retain a spot on Europe’s team to defend the trophy at Bethpage Black in September.
“I’m playing great just now, just need to roll the rock (his ball on the green),” he said. “Last week was absolutely horrific. So this week we have changed a couple of things. We have changed the putter but the biggest thing in doing that is trusting it and don’t keep switching grips, stance or whatever, as I’ve been searching, whereas this week I’m going to stick with one putter, one style, one process. If it’s good, we’ll be there or thereabouts. But, if it’s bad, then it will be no different to recent weeks.”
MacIntyre, who confirmed he will be based at home when playing on the PGA this year rather than renting somewhere in the US, is gearing up for his Masters return in April while he is also looking forward to being back at Royal Portrush, where he recorded a top-ten finish on his major debut in 2019, for The Open in July.
“Now the majors are the ones I am trying to win,” he admitted. “I’m in them all this year. They are not going to be shocks to the system in terms of the players you are playing against because you are playing against them week in, week out on the PGA Tour. You are getting more comfortable, so it (winning majors) becomes possible, to be honest with you.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.