Exclusive:Bob MacIntyre opens up on 'mad' start to 2026 after thinking 'I could give it up'

It’s no secret, of course, that MacIntyre is a home bird and always will be. But, two years after making the same journey across the Atlantic to start his PGA Tour career and not being entirely sure it was for him, the 29-year-old now has a totally different attitude when it comes to touching down in the US and realising how important it is in terms of his career development.

On this occasion, the world No 7 held a training camp with members of his team for a few days at Lake Nona in Orlando before heading to Hawaii, where he starts his 2026 calendar campaign on Thursday after opting to play in this week’s Sony Open on the PGA Tour as opposed to joining some of his Ryder Cup team-mates in the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour.

He made that decision primarily on the strength of wanting to get as many FedEx Cup points as possible up on the board early in his bid to finish the regular phase of the season in the top 50 and make the Play-Offs for the third year in a row. While disappointed that he’s also missing out on next week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic in the Middle East, MacIntyre is happy to be in Hawaii - who wouldn’t be? - before heading to California for The American Express.

“It’s mad because you get to Orlando and start practising and I’m like ‘I’m loving the chase’, which is trying to win a major,” he added, speaking in an exclusive interview with The Scotsman from Honolulu. “My biggest problem is when I have some serious time off, when I enjoy time with friends and family and not travelling. When I start it again, I’m like ‘phew, here we go, why am I doing this?’ But the reason I do it is that I want to win a major. I want to achieve a lifelong dream. I have almost lived out my dream and I just have one more thing to achieve.”

Game is ‘good enough to contend in majors’

If it wasn’t for J.J. Spaun producing a brilliant birdie-birdie finish at Oakmont in the US Open last June, it would already be mission accomplished for the Scot. Coming so close to joining Sandy Lyle and Paul Lawrie as modern-day men’s major winners, though, has merely made him realise that he’s got the game to have more chances to land one of the sport’s marquee titles. Hence why his eyes lit up when trips to Augusta National, Aronimink, Shinnecock Hills and Royal Birkdale were mentioned for The Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and The Open respectively this year.

“I don’t know if it’s excited or relaxed,” he said in reply to being asked how he felt about this year’s majors, having paid reconnaissance trips to both Aronimink and Shinnecock Hills just before last year’s Ryder Cup in New York. “I know the level of golf that I can play at and I know that level of golf is good enough to contend in majors. I don’t know if it’s good enough to win a major. Until I do that, I will keep it at contend. But the biggest thing for me is knowing I can contend. Look, when I was pitching up majors before it felt great being part of it and I then went so long without missing a cut (making ten in a row), which was great as well.

“But I really want to win one. How do you start off? If you don’t win one, the next best thing is to really contend and get the juices flowing and see if you can handle it. That US Open was massive in that respect as it made me realise that I could hit shots under the most pressure you are likely to face in golf. Not outside pressure but pressure I feel when I am getting close to achieving something unbelievable. The only other pressure I’ve felt like that was in the Ryder Cup and it’s good that knowing when it comes to it, it might not be perfect but you can handle it.”

A week after helping Europe retain the Ryder Cup in the 45th edition at Bethpage Black in September, MacIntyre won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews and, over the last two years, has cemented his place as one of the game’s leading lights. “Overall, 2025 was a good year,” he admitted. “It’s now behind us, but there were a lot of positives. We (his team) didn’t really have a debrief. We just really had a chat with everyone and pretty much agreed that, if we can rinse and repeat the year, then 2026 will be just as good. It’s one of those ones where my job is just to keep getting better, whether that’s 0.01 of a shot per round.

Aim is to ‘fall across the line on a Sunday’

“Competing properly in a major was the biggest thing I took from last year from a personal standpoint. Yeah, I’d had top tens in majors before, but I’d never competed in one and had the juices going late in the day on a Sunday like I did at Oakmont. It was good to get that and see the game stand up to the highest of pressure on the toughest of golf courses. I stood over that three-foot putt on 18 and thought ‘this is probably to win the US Open’ with the way it was going. It obviously didn’t turn out that way, but that’s what was going through my head. Now, all I want to do over the next ten years is to give myself a chance in the majors and hopefully I can fall across the line in one on a Sunday.”

Which, of course, would make those tough trips from his beloved Scotland well and truly worthwhile.