MIND / JOURNEYS M
“I played Dustin Johnson next... I knew I had him worried.” Robert MacIntyre The Scot who fears no one. With John Huggan
I ’ve heard golfers say they “lived” on their local course when they were kids. Well, I literally did. My childhood home is next to Glen- cruitten Golf Club in Oban, Scotland. My dad is the greenkeeper and played off a plus-1 handicap at his best. From my bedroom to the 12th tee is 18 yards. It was easy for me to play a few holes late in the evening when I was growing up.
dart: “We’ve all got to start somewhere. That message is still in his phone. The next day I shot two or three under, then I broke the course record in the third round. I ended up missing a playoff by a shot. Then I won the next week. ● ● ● At European Tour Q school, I couldn’t keep my driver on the planet. I was slicing everything, so I went with it. The ball was travelling 340 but going only 280. It was the only way I could keep drives in play. I made the cut, which got me status on the Challenge Tour. The next year I finished 12th on the money list to get my European Tour card. ● ● ● For a practice round at the 2019 Open at Portrush, I put my name on the starting sheet. When I looked at it again, Ian Poulter had signed up next to me. Playing with someone of Ian’s stat- ure would have placed me outside my comfort zone. It’s fine not being com- fortable in the heat of battle, but when it’s something I can control, I want to be comfortable. If I’m not, I’m not going to prepare well. So I pulled out. It was me taking a step back to take two forward. I ended up finishing sixth. One of my best weeks on a golf course. ● ● ● When I beat Kevin Na at the 2021 World Match Play, I felt I had arrived. I played Dustin Johnson next. I was up early, but I knew he wasn’t going to go away. It actually gave me a boost when he holed a putt for birdie to win the 17th hole and made a fist-pump. I knew I had him worried. We ended all square. ● ● ● Before the 2021 Masters, everyone was telling me how much I would love Augusta National. They were right. It’s a course where you have to “see” shots. I grew up doing that. I wasn’t surprised I finished T-12 on my debut. I could have done better. It’s a place you have to know. Now I do.
I was 16, I played in the Dunhill Links Championship as an amateur. That gave me a taste of what tour golf was like, and I realised I wasn’t far short. I knew then I wanted to be a pro golfer. ● ● ● I went to college at McNeese State University in Louisiana. I wasn’t keen at first. Going to America was too big a step for a wee boy from Oban. But coach Austin Burk had watched me play for Scotland in the European Team Cham- pionship and liked what he saw. I told him I’d need a full scholarship, which he offered. That made it real. My mum told me to go for it. She said I’d regret it if I didn’t give it a shot. She was right. It was a brilliant experience. ● ● ● I was homesick, but my golf was im- proving. I made friends. I learned how to survive by myself. But after three semesters I felt like I had hit a wall. I wasn’t getting to play in big enough tournaments. It was nothing personal, but I was chasing something more. I told the coach I wouldn’t be back after Christmas at home in Scotland. ● ● ● The 2017 Walker Cup at Los Angeles Country Club was my last event as an amateur. I played Cameron Champ and couldn’t believe how far he hit it. One drive must have been 100 yards ahead of me. But he lost the hole when I stiffed my approach. I won 6 and 4. We played again a day later and halved our match. ● ● ● I shot 79 in my first event as a pro- fessional, in a mini-tour event. That night I texted my manager, Iain Stod-
Glencruitten is 4 471 yards, par 62. But it’s a course you need to know. There are blind shots up, over and around hills. It’s the reason iron play is my strength. You can be 160 yards out and hitting a 6-iron that has to be high, low, hooked or sliced. You need a great imagination to do well there. ● ● ● My parents have fostered young kids for a long time, a home life that has given me perspective. I remember the first time we fostered, a wee boy and girl. When my mother went to give the boy a hug, he backed off, which shocked me. He had obviously been abused. At first, he and his sister would “steal” food from the fridge and store it in their rooms. They clearly hadn’t been fed properly. That opened my eyes. Before that, I used to be stroppy on the course – not much anymore. ● ● ● Shinty is a cross between field hock- ey and legalised violence. It’s a stick- and-ball game played mainly on the ground. You can take full swings and use both sides of the stick. It’s a High- land sport played first by the clans. My papa played until he was in his 50s. I stopped at 17 only because I was wor- ried about my hands. If I could earn a living playing shinty, I’m not sure I’d be a golfer. ● ● ● From an early age I was good at golf. In 2013, I won the Scottish Boys Stroke Play Championship and the Scottish Youths Championship. Two years later I won the Scottish Amateur. In 2016, I lost in the final of the British Amateur. When
PHOTOGRAPH BY JENSEN LARSON
10 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JULY/AUGUST 2025
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