'I feel like it's a matter of time' - Bob MacIntyre on latest eye-catching major performance

Runner-up in last month’s US Open at Oakmont, the Oban man backed up that brilliant effort by tying for seventh in the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush. In 19 major appearances, he has now recorded five top-ten finishes.

“Yeah, I know I've got the game,” said MacIntyre of taking another big step in his bid to make the ultimate breakthrough in the game by producing eye-catching back-to-back performances in the events that measure careers. “I feel like it's a matter of time, if I just keep piecing it all together.”

It had been a “frustrating” final round for the 28-year-old as he stood at level par for the day on the 12th tee, having offset birdies at the second and seventh with bogeys at the fourth and tenth.

His patience was well and truly rewarded, though, over the closing stretch, which yielded four birdies, including a chip at the 14th, and also a run of five straight 3s.

“This place is statistically a golf course that I should have been sharper. My wedge play was really poor this week and some dropped shots ultimately cost me a real chance,” he said in assessing his seventh-place finish.

That was just outside where he ended up on his major debut here in 2019 but, asked to compare then and now, he declared: “I'm a far better-equipped golfer. It's been a great performance, a good result. It's another kind of reassurance that I'm in the right place.”

His place in Europe’s team for a Ryder Cup defence at Bethpage Black in September has been well and truly nailed down. “Yeah, I think it has now,” said the 2023 rookie in Rome. “I thought after the US Open it might be done. I've got three or four more tournaments before the deadline, but I want to qualify automatically and we'll hopefully do that.”

Those tournaments are the three FedEx Cup Play-Offs, starting with the FedEx St Jude Championship in three weeks’ time then the BMW Championship and season-ending Tour Championship. He’ll then turn his attention to the DP World Tour before and after the Ryder Cup.

“I feel like the schedule that I've been playing for the last three months has been absolutely hectic. I feel I've hardly had a break. But that's part of the job. Keep going. When you're playing well, just keep going,” said with a smile.

On the back of his emergence as a global star over the past year and a bit in particular, MacIntyre was cheered every step of the way at a venue he openly admits is his “favourite links course in the world”.

He now can’t wait for the Claret Jug joust to be back on the County Antrim coast again. “Yeah, this is my favourite Open venue,” he said. “To be brutally honest, I love the golf course, love the place. Not far from home as the crow flies. I absolutely love this place. Shame it's not here every year. It's been unbelievable. The support has been brilliant.”