Bob MacIntyre stirs up social media frenzy in US over Masters meltdown

Social media was in a frenzy over his behaviour on Thursday in the opening round of the 90th Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. “Total asshole,” wrote one person. “He should have been kicked off the course. Poor Scottie [Scheffler] having to play with that jerk.” Another claimed that there is “no room for this kind of behaviour” and “Augusta should send him home”.

At the same time, however, there were plenty of others who were speaking up for the Scot. “Golf needs more of this... good for you Robby... finally a golfer showing some personality and emotion,” opined a definite supporter and he wasn’t the only one.

“Take a look at all the petals on here. World falling apart and thousands being killed every day and some are upset at a few sweary words. Elite sportsmen are flawed. That is what makes them very good at what they do. I hear a lot worse every time I play golf. Proud he is Scottish,” read another post on X. Also on there, someone else asked “who cares?” and claimed that “days like this will only make him more determined”.

MacIntyre had been in a foul mood after finishing his opening round on Thursday, having signed for an eight-over-par 80 - his worst score here in 11 rounds - after taking a quadruple-bogey 9 at the par-15th. Reacting to putting the first of two balls in the water there, he made a one-fingered gesture, which was captured on a TV camera and duly went viral.

By that stage, his head had gone, having clattered a club into the ground at the previous hole after already being caught using bad language on a microphone at the 12th tee and, by all accounts, other occasions before that in a round full of frustration.

You could see the steam coming out of his ears as he marched away without speaking to anyone, including a small group of reporters, after coming out of the recording cabin at the Georgia course and, though when it exactly happened is a grey area, he was definitely told between then and stepping on to the first tee on Friday morning that he needed to do better in terms of adhering to a code of conduct for this tournament.

As he made his way up the first fairway in the second round, MacIntyre could be heard laughing as he chatted with Scheffler, who, as a self-confessed religious man, could have been easily offended by the Scot’s “Jesus f***” comment after missing the 12th green less than 24 hours earlier.

Majestic drives, woeful irons

The seemingly mood improvement didn’t last long, though. What had irked MacIntyre on Thursday was that he had driven the ball majestically only to then hit woeful irons shots thereafter. He hit 12 out of 14 fairways and was T4 in driving accuracy yet walked off with an 80.

Guess what? He split another fairway to get his Friday circuit underway but then, paying a price for being way too aggressive when he should really have been aiming at the middle of the green, put his approach in a bunker, took two to get out of it and walked off with a double-bogey 6.

“I’m Struggling, Get Me Out Here” was probably what was on his mind at that point and failing to convert a good birdie chance at the second was another early setback. MacIntyre still hasn’t played the par 5s here well enough. In his opening 67, Rory McIlroy birdied all four of them and did so twice despite facing tree trouble. That’s the sort of return you need around here to get in the mix.

MacIntyre’s play around the green on Thursday had been wasteful. Getting up and down at the third for a birdie was more like it. As was holing a 44-foot putt across the green at the fourth for a 2. Not even that, though, was enough to raise a smile and neither did knocking in a 26-footer at the par-4 seventh for a third birdie of the day.

Turning in one under to sit on seven over, the world No 8 had given himself an outside chance of making the cut, which, at that stage, was predicted to be falling at four or five over. Albeit one of the toughest holes on the course, a bogey at the 11th was untimely before he almost aced the 12th, where his ball landed just short and was close to disappearing into the hole on its second bounce.

Though unable to pick up another shot at the 13th, where his second shot found the creek, MacIntyre surely enjoyed a measure of revenge at the 15th, where, after dumping two balls in the water the previous day and running up a quadruple-bogey 9, he was safely on the dancefloor in two this time and was a couple of rolls away from making an eagle.

At that point, he was up to T61 and edging closer to extending his stay, but it was goodnight Vienna after coming off his tee shot at the short 16th and knowing straight away that it was going to end up in the drink. That was the closest he came to doing something he might have regretted in this round. He eventually signed for a 71 for a seven-over total, missing the cut for the second year in a row and suffering that fate for the first time since it happened a year ago.

MacIntyre didn’t speak to reporters afterwards. It looked like he couldn’t get out of here quick enough. He fell in love with the place as a debutant in 2021, but, alas, that hasn’t lasted.