ASKING a player for a quick word after he's missed the cut can be one of the perils of this golf writing lark. Many of us, for instance, still bear the scars from a seething Monty swatting away our requests and thundering through us like a locomotive with a cowcatcher mowing into a herd of dazed cattle.
Robert MacIntyre is not quite in good old Monty’s league when it comes to hissy fits but the young Scot cut a fuming figure as he made an early exit from the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance.
While Connor Syme leads the Scottish challenge on the fringes of the top-10, MacIntyre’s hopes of a big week on home soil – and a morale booster ahead of the 150th Open – suffered a sore dunt as a two-over 72 for a five-over 145 saw him miss the cut for the third time in his last four events.
The sense of crushing disappointment was clear. “I think you can see it in my face,” said MacIntyre with a glower that could’ve melted the shaft of a 5-iron. “Right now, I’m livid.”
Having opened his challenge with a 73 on Thursday in the “brutal” half of the draw for conditions, MacIntyre was up against it and a crippling double-bogey six on the ninth hole of his second circuit did little for his mission or his mood.
In this game, you’re always learning and a masterclass in poise and patience from his playing partner Xander Schauffele, who eased up the order with a fine 65, gave MacIntyre plenty to ponder in terms of his own approach.
Keeping the head while others lose theirs can be a valuable attribute in this tormenting pursuit and MacIntyre knows he has work to do on that particular front.
“Xander is brilliant,” said the Oban lefty. “Nothing fazes him, whether it’s good or bad. But when I missed a putt, I put a dent in my water bottle. So it fazes me but not him. I think that’s the difference with the top boys. Whether it’s a good day or a bad day, they are just the same.
“But for me just now, in fact, for the last year-and-a-half since coming out of Covid, I’ve been a bit volatile. I’ve not thought about seeing anyone about it. It comes and goes. Once you start seeing a trend of good golf, you start believing in yourself again. But just now I feel I’m getting beaten up all the time.”
While MacIntyre departed, Syme made decent headway with a neatly assembled 69 for a one-under tally as he continued to make the most of a late invitation to the domestic showpiece.
After missing the cut in last week’s Irish Open, Syme was set for a holiday with his girlfriend. The addition of the Scottish Open to the Fifer’s diary delayed that and the trip may be put on hold a bit longer if Syme keeps moving up the field. Three places for The Open in St Andrews are up for grabs here too. Wish you were here?
“It would be amazing,” said Dundee-based Syme. “I didn’t enter qualifying this year and thought the opportunity might have gone as I wasn’t expecting to be playing this week. “There’s a long way to go but if that (an Open place) is the reward at the end, then great.”
Ewen Ferguson, who was sitting in the top-10 after the opening round, slipped back to three-over after a trying 76 but made it to the weekend alongside Russell Knox, David Law and Marc Warren.
