Bob MacIntyre opens up on Masters after letting clubs do talking with strong start in RBC Heritage
Scot shoots five-under 66 in his first appearance since miserable Masters
Bob MacIntyre opened up about a miserable Masters after letting his clubs do the talking with a strong start in his first appearance since being criticised for bad language and a one-fingered gesture during the Masters last week.
The Oban man opened with a five-under-par 66 - it included six birdies and one bogey - at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina to sit three shots off the lead, held by Swede Ludvig Aberg.
The excellent effort was a timely boost after MacIntyre not only missed the cut in the season’s opening major at Augusta National but found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reason.
After some bad language had already been picked up in the company of world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, the 29-year-old slammed a club into the turf at the 14th before making his one-fingered gesture at the next hole after hitting his second shot into the water and running up a quadruple-bogey 9.
After signing for an eight-over-par 80, he was spoken to by a tournament official and reminded about a code of conduct for the event.
MacIntyre, who missed the cut despite bouncing back with a one-under 71, declined to speak to reporters after both his rounds as he missed the cut in the event for the second year in a row.
Breaking his silence in an interview with Sky Sports Golf after his strong opening salvo in South Carolina, he said: “Yeah, look, I know what I done isn’t the best way of me doing things, but, look, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m trying my best to control the emotions.
“I work with someone back home and, yeah, there was a lot going on and disappointed with that, but I’m very good at putting things behind me.
“Things that get said elsewhere doesn’t phase me. I just come out here, I’ve got my family, friends, part of my team. These guys are the ones that I really listen to and, you know what, if I’ve done something wrong, they’ll tell me and that’s how I go about life.
“I just do what I want, how we want, not just personally, but with the family and friends and we go about our business the way we want to do it. and some people like it, some people don’t. But, at the end of the day, it’s a job and I try and come out here and perform the best I can.”
MacIntyre, meanwhile, was pleased with his start after finishing fourth and second in his final two events going into the Masters, where he drove the ball as well as anyone in the field for 36 holes but missed too many greens.
“Yeah, look, coming off last week, a disappointing performance,” he added. “To come into this week, I was comfortable with the golf course, comfortable in my game.
“My game’s been in good shape, so trying to put as much of last week behind me as I could. And, yeah, just overall, I’m driving it beautifully off the tee, so I’m being aggressive off the tee which gives me a lot of wedges round here.
“I didn’t take many chances in the middle part of the round, which is a bit disappointing, but five under par is always good to start.”
Aberg, one of MacIntyre’s Ryder Cup team-mates in wins in both Rome and New York, set the clubhouse target in the PGA Tour’s latest $20 million Signature Events with a bogey-free eight-under 63.
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