It’s been quite a two-week whirlwind for Robert MacIntyre.
The 29-year-old lefty from Scotland partied late into the night and early morning last Sunday after his beloved Europe team made history when beating the U.S. at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.
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If you’ve paid any attention, you’ve likely seen myriad social media posts about the revelry in the bus ride back to the team hotel and then much more once there.
There were hangovers galore, you can be sure. But MacIntyre made his way back to his native Scotland early in the week to prepare for the Dunhill Links Championship, as did Ryder Cup teammates Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood.
“The energy levels are quite low,” said MacIntyre, who went 1-1-1 in his three matches in New York. “It’s difficult. But you’ve just got to try and manage it, have a few good things in a round. Yeah, you’ve just got to enjoy yourself as much as you can. I don’t know if I’ll enjoy myself over the next two days with the weather, but we’ll see what we can do.”
Well, he won.
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MacIntyre shot three rounds of 66 at Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and the Old Course to shot 18-under 198 and an event that was shortened to 54 holes because the entire third round on Saturday was cancelled because of dangerous winds.
The Dunhill Links format has all teams play the three courses before everyone plays on the Old Course in the fourth round. With the third round cancelled each player will played the course they were scheduled to play. Thankfully for MacIntyre, he finished on the best of them all, the venerable Old Course, meaning he ended on the historic 18th hole.
“Today was difficult with that wind,” McIntyre said. “The back nine, not my favorite nine holes, especially at the end there. It’s a struggle to get me to hit it far enough right when out of bounds is sitting there waiting on you.
“A great week. Delighted how it’s gone.”
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Jan Kruger
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MacIntyre said that his opening 66 at Kingsbarns was as good as he could possibly play, considering the tough conditions. It was there where he made seven birdies and a bogey. In fact, not only did all three days produce the same score, all three days included seven birdies and a lone bogey.
The final round was fairly anticlimactic as MacIntyre opened with four birdies on his first seven holes to build a comfortable lead. When he was done it wasn’t clear he’d won, although his closest pursuer, Richard Sterne, was a few shots back with four holes to play at the more difficult Carnoustie Links. Sterned tied for third place with John Parry. Hatton shot a final-round 65 alongside MacIntyre to sneak into second place, four behind the winner.
This was MacIntyre’s fourth career DP World Tour victory, his last coming at the 2024 Scottish Open. He was already inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking at No. 9 and will move up. He was the fourth Scot to win the Dunhill Links and the first Scot to win since Colin Montgomerie in 2005.
“I played beautifully, controlled the golf ball well,” MacIntyre said. “Three rounds of six under is not bad.”
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